Jimmy Thelin was magnanimous after his first defeat as Aberdeen boss, accepting that Celtic were simply the better side on the day at Hampden.
“Congratulations to Celtic, they performed really well. They were clear in their identity, how they played, and they produced good quality today. Sometimes in football, when things start going wrong, it can go wrong really quickly. We didn’t find a way back, and the game got away from us because of their quality. But it’s one game. It’s not the whole season.
“Today, they were really good and then they hurt us really, really hard in this game. I’ve been in football for a long time now. I’ve experienced these situations before. It happened before with other teams. It doesn’t happen often but it can happen. Celtic were on top form today. The skill was there. The timing was there. And they used these opportunities when they got them.
“We have things to learn and things to improve for the future, and that’s what we’re going to focus on now. Take learning points from this game and keep growing. We want to play well in an important game in Hampden. We want to be in Europe. We want to be strong in the league. We want to cope with this intensity, so that’s what we have to improve on.
“The game is over. We are out. The most important for us now is how you act when you have setbacks, how you work tomorrow, how we prepare for the next game. How you keep the strength in your identity. Don’t lose the belief. I feel that core is still strong.
“I think the togetherness we talked about before when we were winning games is there. The fans stayed with us after the game. They gave us energy and give us focus for the next challenge. That’s the most important sometimes. When you’re winning, things can be easy. When you have tough times, it is most important how you act in these situations. Now we have to focus on the next game.
“But I think we are strong enough to move on to the next game against Dundee at home. That’s why it’s the same process when you win a game or lose a game. It’s training by training, game by game, be humble. You have to learn from these situations. And that’s the most important thing. It should be more of a learning opportunity than a setback. Of course it’s a setback also, but from setbacks you have to learn what we can improve so it doesn’t happen again.”
