Neil Lennon revealed that defender Efe Ambrose was disciplined for being late for training on Wednesday morning ahead of the 2-0 Champions League second-leg defeat by Juventus which saw Celtic exit the last-16 stage on an 5-0 on aggregate, but insists it was not the reason the defender was omitted from the starting eleven.
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The Hoops boss confirmed that the Nigeria international missed the team bus from the hotel and had to catch up by taxi.
In the event, Ambrose replaced the injured Victor Wanyama for the start of the second-half when the visitors were behind to an Allesandro Matri goal, before Fabio Quagliarella notched the second in the 65th minute as the spirited Parkhead men were again punished heavily for a lack of concentration.
Lennon was in no mood to expand upon the Ambrose incident, saying: "There was disciplinary action taken against him but it wouldn't have affected the team selection tonight."
Pressed on the issue, the Northern Irishman "Is this the best line of questioning we can do here? Are we not going to talk about the game, are we going to talk about things which aren't important?"
Lennon was more comfortable talking about what he saw as a difference in quality between the two sides was evident over the two legs and admitted it might be difficult keeping his better players for another tilt at the Champions League next season.
He said: "The difference is quality in the final third. We had good chance again tonight but we didn't take them.
"We played really good football, had good spells in either half and we missed what I think were very good chances to get back into the tie.
"The difference is quality, quality counts and that was the difference between the two teams over both games.
"It would be a travesty for these young players not to progress their careers after achieving so much and having played against some of the best players and teams in the world.
"While I hope they learn we won't know until we come back into the competition next July.
"But it is going to be very difficult (to keep them). Some of them want to progress their careers maybe out of Scotland and it is difficult to stop that progression.
"We are doing our job, bringing these young players in and developing them and hopefully selling them on for significantly more than we brought them in for, but we will have a look at the end of the season."
Georgios Samaras also hopes the Champions League campaign will serve as a learning experience for Celtic's young players.
"I would say that it was a great experience for all the lads," he told Sky Sports 2. "We're a young team with a lot of talent, and that's an experience we'll learn from.
"I think it was a great journey for everyone in the club, the players, the coaches, staff and supporters, they've enjoyed it from the first second to the last. Next year hopefully we'll be back in the Champions League."
The odds were always stacked against Celtic on the night but Samaras kept the result in perspective.
"We're playing against a great team in the round of 16, it's a big thing for us," he said. "We tried to play attacking football, to press them high like we did in the first half and we had a couple of chances but we didn't take them.
"But I didn't see any negative things in the game. We keep the positive things and keep learning."
Celtic exceeded expectations by coming this far, and Samaras believes the memories of a campaign that included victory over Barcelona and a double against Spartak Moscow will stay with the club for a long time.
"We're trying really hard all together to be a successful team," Samaras said. "The highlights of this journey were the two games against Barcelona, the way we played, the heart we showed was something amazing, not only for the players but also the supporters and the club. We'll remember these games for many years."
Juventus boss Antonio Conte was impressed by the way the travelling fans stood by their side when it was clear that their European journey was ending.
He said: "I would like to thank all the supporters, the Juventus supporters especially, and the Scottish supporters because they kept on supporting the team and dancing all the time, it was a very positive example to all of us
"We can't forget that Celtic qualified with important results against Barcelona and Benfica so we shouldn't undervalue that they are a very strong team who had to be evaluated very carefully.
"We are in the quarter-finals, the whole club is satisfied that we are back in the elite of European football and we hope to go on the right way."
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