After Aberdeen’s UEFA Conference League ended in defeat to Sparta Prague, Jimmy Thelin called on his team to use the lessons they have learnt this season to come back stronger and qualify for Europe again next term.

“This season, we have to play against the top teams in this group phase, and right now we’re not in that level. We still have to grow as a club and as a team to be more competitive next time. The positive thing is that we get a lot of information of what we need to do, how we need to work, how we need to grow, to be more competitive next time we’re here.

“At this level, if you make mistakes, you get punished, and we’ve seen it throughout the campaign. We have played now against six opponents in this group phase, and five of them are top eight, so the quality is there. One mistake and they punish you, and that’s been a big thing in the games. The only way to grow in this context is to be there and learn from it, and how you focus the decision-making in these areas.

“To be a better team, you have to play against the best. That’s the only way to grow and learn to know yourself and what you need to do better. The mental pressure goes up. All these kind of things are going to help us to cope with the rest of the season. If we use this in the right way, we’re going to be a stronger team. I have a strong belief that these players will be better next season.

“Some of the games, Noah, Strasbourg, Shakhtar were good games, but this difference with the quality in the decisive moments is the big thing. When the mistakes are there, they have been better and punished us. We need to decrease the mistakes, but also be more dangerous when we get the same opportunities. Today we had some really good transition moments, but they didn’t lead to a chance.

“Now we have to focus on our league and give us a chance to be here again, because if you use the information we get from these games in the right way, the players will be much, much better in these games.

“Going to Celtic on Sunday, first of all, I think the players have shown that they can compete after a European game. They have been strong on a Sunday so far this season. Every player has grown a lot from this experience and I think that will help us in the league also. We know that Celtic have really good players, they are a good team, so we have to be really sharp. We will be ready, but it’s going to be a difficult game. We have to recover now and focus on them.”