O'Neill remains defiant despite Milan setback

Celtic striker John Hartson (L) chases AC Milan defender Alessandro Nesta. Celtic coach Martin O'Neill believes his side can still qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League despite suffering their second successive defeat in Group F.

Celtic coach Martin O'Neill believes his side can still qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League despite suffering their second successive defeat in Group F.

Celtic looked to be heading for a draw and their first ever away point in the competition here Wednesday until Milan's class finally told in the closing stages with two goals in the last two minutes that gave the Italians a flattering 3-1 victory.

Defeat left Celtic joint bottom of the group with Shakhtar Donetsk and six points adrift of Milan and Barcelona, but O'Neill insists his team can still make it through to the next round.

"I'll tell you something, we're not out of this by a long way," said the northern Irishman.

"It might mean having to win in the Ukraine, but we have the belief to do it."

O'Neill, who said losing to Milan was more painful than the club's UEFA Cup final loss to Porto last year, thought his players deserved more from the match, having dominated the second half against the 2003 Champions League winners.

"This is a real low because after two games we are pointless, but I won't forget the fantastic effort the team gave," he said.

"To play the ball around like that at the San Siro and see AC Milan booting the ball to safety speaks volumes.

"The fans could see how much effort the players were putting in. For the whole second half I was looking one way and that was to my left (Milan's half).

"The players are despondent, but it's a results business. We lost a game we dominated."

Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was delighted to have accumulated maximum points with two tough battles against Barcelona lying ahead.

"We are in a strong position, but we have two difficult matches in front of us," he stressed.

"We are not making calculations. We'll just focus on the next match and we hope to give a good account of ourselves."

Andriy Shevchenko scored on his 28th birthday to give Milan an early lead, only for Slovakian defender Stanislav Varga to head a deserved equaliser for Celtic 16 minutes from time.

Milan were pinned back for most of the second half until substitute Filippo Inzaghi prodded home Shevchenko's right-wing cross in the 88th minute, before Andrea Pirlo's deflected free-kick completed Celtic's misery.