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"This is football and we deserved better," Souness told the press.
"We have come to Parkhead and had the majority of the game.
"We have come to Parkhead and had the majority of the game.
"We put a lot of pressure on them and I felt that their only threat was going to come from set-pieces - and that is the way it happened.
"I said before the game that nothing would be decided after this game and that's not changed my mind.
"It is all to play for going into the second game.
"If we play as well as we did tonight then I'm confident we can score against them.
"We have a lot of important games before the second leg, but, when that match comes around, we will be ready for it."
Souness, being a former Rangers manager, must have been expecting at least a little hostility from the Celtic crowd. He will, however, have been surprised when they seemed to content themselves with supporting Celtic. He waited until the match started before he took his place in the Blackburn dug-out which kept all pre-match jibes to a minimum.
Speaking after the match, Celtic boss Martin O'Neill also appears confident that his side can raise their game for the away leg.
"Overall, I am just delighted and thrilled to bits," he said.
"We could have played better, but the players have done the club proud tonight.
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"Blackburn proved that they can play by winning at Highbury against one of the best teams in Europe and thrashing Newcastle.
"They are in excellent form, but by God we will be ready for them."
O'Neill was happy to admit that Rovers were the better team for much of the match and said: "We had to dig in and do without the ball for periods of the first half.
"I tried to sort things out at half time and I asked them to take the shackles off, compete and pass it properly, which we are capable of doing," he continued...
"I was delighted with the second half and I thought we deserved the goal."