Motherwell boss Alfred Johansson admitted his side ‘learned the hard way’ as they went down 3-1 to Freiburg in the Europa Conference League play-off first leg – but insisted he felt nothing but pride for his players.Regan Charles-Cook gave the Steelmen a stunning lead within two minutes against the Bundesliga heavyweights to spark hope of an almighty upset at a raucous Fir Park.But a Matthias Ginter double either side of the interval – the second from the penalty spot after Martin Moorman saw red for the hosts – put Freiburg in front before substitute Keisuke Goto headed home with seconds remaining to establish a commanding two-goal advantage ahead of the return leg at the Europa-Park Stadion next Thursday.Johansson said: ‘I’m very proud of them for the way they played. The mentality they showed throughout the game.‘We learned the hard way in conceding set-pieces. We spoke about that but also the fact we are not giving away a lot of big chances in this game in open play being a man down from minute 60.‘Together with the fact we have the goal in the first half and more sequences like that throughout the game where we stick to our principles – which was something I asked for before the game. Motherwell boss Alfred Johansson was proud of his side’s endeavour against Freiburg‘All these things make me very proud to be involved with them.‘They can learn so much [against elite opposition]. When you train for something, whatever it is, then at some point you face a new level.‘When you do that you have to do everything a bit better. Whether that’s guitar, chess or playing football.‘You need to think faster, decide and execute technically faster with more quality. When you put the body into that you will adapt.‘That intensity and level of difficulty and level of actions which the players have done tonight, if you go on and do what we did then that intensity and quality sticks in your nervous system and will stay there.‘As long as you know how that works then we will profit from it in the coming months.’Although Johansson conceded that his side were ultimately beaten by the better team on the night, he was encouraged by the way the players refused to abandon their principles and stick to the style which has delivered so many positive results in the early part of the new season.‘These players are recruited and made for playing the way we are playing,’ he said. ‘If we look at the first goal we score, we can agree when Motherwell look their best it’s when we play like that. Regan Charles-Cook celebrates as he opened the scoring for Motherwell in the 3-1 loss‘The middle part of the first half after we scored is where we weren’t doing that and that’s when Freiburg gained momentum.‘They did that because they’re so good but also because we became protective and didn’t press as much prior to our goal.‘We need to be ourselves to have the best chance to get results. That’s the identity of this club and this team.’Freiburg boss Julian Schuster said: ‘Our goal was to start much better. We gave Motherwell the belief to earn something today.‘It doesn’t matter if they have little experience, it’s positive to see how they want to play with the ball, with a lot of confidence.‘This is one of the qualities this team have. It was tough for us to change the result but it was very positive for us going into the second game.’