STEPHEN McMANUS believes that Celtic will learn from the manner in which they went out of Europe this season.

The Celtic captain knows the Hoops were capable of staying in European football beyond Christmas, but has insisted there is no-one still down in the mouth about the way the Champions League campaign concluded.

"We were as disappointed as anyone when we went out in Denmark when we lost against Aalborg but we have managed to get a decent win over Villarreal and that's all we could do," he said.

"You need luck and you need to take your chances at this level but I think we will learn a lesson from it.

"Playing in the Champions League is fantastic but we were unlucky on a couple of occasions and in others there were just one or two small things that might have changed the picture.

"But for now it is time for us to go forward. It was disappointing in terms of the campaign because we felt as though we could have qualified but we just need to get on with it.

"We are disappointed that there's no more European football this season, but we're not going to kill ourselves about it. It's the way it is and we can't change it, but we can do something about the league."

Celtic play Hearts on Saturday and the Tynecastle side will be quietly confident after beating Rangers a few weeks back.

"The games are coming thick and fast for us now and that's what you want," said McManus.

"We are going into the Hearts game on the back of a win which is good and now it is just all about doing what we always do and that's just approaching each game as it comes.

"There are a few big ones for us between now and the New Year and we'll just get our head down and get on with it."