Ronny Deila has claimed that Emilio Izaguirre's red card cost Celtic victory in their 2-2 draw away to Ajax in tonight's Europa League opener.
The Bhoys looked on course to kick off their Group A campaign with a win after goals from Nir Biton and Mikael Lustig, either side of Viktor Fischer's equaliser, had them leading in Amsterdam after 74 minutes.
However, Izaguirre was then sent off after picking up a second yellow card, before Lasse Schone's deceiving free kick rescued a point for the hosts on 84 minutes.
"When it was 11 versus 11, we had great control of the game," Deila told a press conference. "We had a great attitude and I'm proud of the boys. When we went down to 10, we had great difficulties.
"Of course the sending-off was the big point. We had control, we were dangerous at set plays, we had control, but when we had just 10 men, then we had trouble. Izaguirre had control of El Ghazi, so it was difficult to take him off [when he was on one yellow card]. Some other players haven't played so much, so it was a difficult decision to take him off [before the second yellow].
"We got a point, but we had a good performance and we could have had three. We would have won the game [if it wasn't for the red card]. Ajax didn't create anything. When you look at the whole game, a draw is fair and it's an important point."
Celtic host Dundee at Parkhead on Sunday.
