Callum McGregor has insisted Celtic didn't start playing until an hour into the Premier Sports Cup final against Rangers.
The Celtic captain admitted he was disappointed with his side's display despite lifting the Scottish League Cup at Hampden.
Rangers had taken an early lead through Nedim Bajrami before Greg Taylor levelled the scores and Daizen Maeda then completed a comeback to move 2-1 ahead.
Celtic were then pegged back by Rangers with Mohamed Diomande netting. Nico Kuhn looked to have won it for Brendan Rodgers' side with minutes left before an instant response from Danilo forced extra time and eventually penalties.
For McGregor, Celtic weren't at it for long periods of the match as he confessed his relied at full-time.
"Yeah, 100 per cent," he said on Premier Sports of relief at running out winners. "We played nowhere near the level. Of course, it is the cup final and there are nerves and everything else plays a part as well.
"We actually didn't start playing until ten or 15 minutes into the second half so we have ourselves a bit of work to do. Every time we got ahead we then got pegged back again.
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"It was one of those cup ties where anything can happen and it gores to penalties and it is a lottery. Credit to the players, they showed amazing quality under so much pressure.
"Amazing to get the first silverware of the season."
On what Rodgers said before the spot-kicks, McGregor explained: "Just to stay calm, we did a lot of work this week, cup finals are always tight so they can always go to penalties - just pick your spot, trust your quality, trust your technique and trust each other and that is what happened.
And quizzed on what it is like to be Celtic captain picking up another trophy, he added: "Unbelievable, pride. Tough game, relieved to come through it because always when you come here it is about winning, not necessarily about the performance. You have to win especially when you're playing against your biggest rival the pressure is ten times as much.
"Relief mixed with so much pride to go and lift the trophy again."
