The Hatters went down by a single-goal margin for the second time in five days, following Tuesday night’s last-gasp 4-3 defeat against then-Premier League leaders Arsenal.

This time Town took the lead on the stroke of half-time, through Elijah Adebayo’s far-post header, before goals from Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish turned the game in the European champions’ favour.

Edwards said: “We were aggressive and on the front foot against probably the best possession-based team there is in the world, and we took it to them. That’s what we wanted to do, and then when we had the ball and had opportunities, we were brave again and showed the best of ourselves.

“I thought we were excellent, I really did. I loved so much of what our team was about today, and we are all really disappointed that we didn’t get something from it and get that reward.

“But I think we can all recognise the size of the challenge, this whole week, so I think we can all be very, very proud of these players and what they are giving to this football club.”

He added: “Our challenge now is to obviously maintain these high standards going into every single game, and the points will come.”

On Adebayo’s goal, his second in as many matches and fourth of the season, Edwards said: “Elijah has deserved his opportunity, he’s working very hard. He’s difficult to play against when he’s like that, when he’s on it, as he has been.

“He is that goal threat and it’s great, because the good thing is we look a threat from however it is.

“If we have a little bit of possession as we did today, if it’s from a set piece, if it’s a counter attack, we’ve got the players to score and maintain a threat in the games, and that should give us a lot of confidence against top teams as well.

“I’m pleased with the whole group and how hard they’ve worked, but I know Eli will get some of the headlines because of his goal. It was a fantastic header.”