Left with no reward for his heroics, Scott Bain could have departed the Mestalla Stadium with chin pressed against his chest.
But the Celtic goalkeeper's dominant emotion was not despondency. Instead, he felt a sense of pride at the performance his side delivered in a 1-0 defeat defined by the 37th-minute dismissal of Jeremy Toljan.
A highly-promising start in a new tactical shape - 5-4-1 when out of possession and 3-4-3 on the ball - had raised hope that a miraculous comeback might just be possible.
Scott Bain was proud of the performance that Celtic produced against Valencia
Any chance of overturning the 2-0 first-leg deficit disappeared, however, in the moment Toljan received a debatable second yellow card from German referee Deniz Aytekin.
A man down in one of Spanish football's most storied venues, the roof could have caved in on Brendan Rodgers' side.
But they ultimately exited the Europa League with heads aloft as their depleted defence was only breached by Kevin Gameiro's 70th-minute strike.
Bain had much to do with that. A superb save to thwart Daniel Parejo's deflected drive was followed by another sparkling stop to keep out Santi Mina. On just his second European appearance, it underlined why he has become Rodgers' first choice following the winter break.
'There is disappointment and some frustration with the end result,' said the 27-year-old.
'But despite those feelings, we can be proud of ourselves with the performance we gave.
'We were the better team for the 30 minutes before the sending-off and controlled the game.
'At that stage, we were doing well and it was disappointing to see Jeremy go off because we felt the red card was very soft.
Bain believes Celtic were the dominant side until the dismissal of Jeremy Toljan
'That was a setback at that time, but we didn't fold or drop our heads.
'Afterwards, when we went down to ten men, we still pulled together and came through again.
'We can be proud and we have learned a
