Celtic surrender 4-0 aggregate lead to LASK in Linz and drop into Europa League
Celtic threw away a 4-0 aggregate lead to LASK in Linz on Tuesday night in the Champions League and will now compete in the Europa League.
Callum McGregor publicly criticised his team-mates after the defeat, calling them "passive" and "scared" and adding "now we'll see what people are made of"; for close to a decade he has been Celtic's best player, a near ever-present, a run that has brought trophies but also a long list of European mortifications.
McGregor opened the scoring on the night with a deflected shot to put Celtic 4-0 up on aggregate, but LASK started the tie positively and gradually wrestled control; Benjamin Nygren's loose pass led directly to LASK's equaliser with 32 minutes played, and Celtic conceded again three minutes into the second half with Auston Trusty implicated.
The hosts struck again ten minutes after their second and by around the 90th minute had accumulated 33 shots on Celtic's goal — finishing the game on 40 — to add to the 20 they produced in the first leg, while Celtic failed to register a shot on target in the second half of normal time or in extra-time.
Martin O'Neill admitted responsibility after the collapse and described the evening as "One of his worst in football", later saying "We're a million miles from the finished article" as he watched a match he called shocking; his five substitutions in 12 minutes had no discernible effect on the momentum.
Individuals struggled: Camilo Duran, the first-leg hero, was largely non-existent; Kasper Hogh worked hard without impact; Cameron Carter-Vickers was seen hobbling and Hogh showed signs of fragility, while Celtic's makeshift back four of Anthony Ralston, Dane Murray, Auston Trusty and Liam Scales were repeatedly exposed.
There were late episodes that summed up the evening: LASK missed a penalty that would have made it 6-1 before Miguel Freckleton, recently of St Mirren, slalomed into the Celtic box and briefly looked like a serious threat in his few minutes on the pitch, and, in the end, Luke McCowan's involvement replaced the earlier errors from Nygren and Trusty.
The defeat adds another name to Celtic's catalogue of costly European reverses — previous examples cited include goalless runs and a penalty shootout failure against Kairat Almaty, the 7-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund, 6-0 to Atletico Madrid, the Champions League play-off exit to Midtjylland, two 4-1 defeats to Sparta Prague, earlier play-off exits against Ferencvaros, AEK Athens and Cluj, plus heavy defeats to PSG and Barcelona — and the club will now compete in the Europa League.
