Celtic's Painful Collapse: From Champions League Hope to Europa League Heartbreak

Martin O’Neill called it one of the most painful nights of his Celtic reign – and he has lived through a few.

From 4-0 up on aggregate and seemingly strolling into the Champions League league stage, Celtic contrived to crash out against Lask in Austria, losing 5-1 after extra time in a collapse that will leave scars well beyond the dressing room.

From cruise control to catastrophe

Callum McGregor’s goal after 21 minutes on Tuesday looked like the final word in a routine qualification. Celtic had already done the heavy lifting with a 3-0 win in the first leg and, when their captain swept them further ahead in the tie, the Scottish champions appeared to be out of sight.

They weren’t. Not even close.

Celtic squandered two clear chances to kill the contest before half-time. Instead of putting Lask away, they handed them oxygen. A goal conceded just before the interval, another right after it, and suddenly the mood changed. The Austrians surged, Celtic shrank, and a tie that had looked dead was crackling with danger.

The pressure told. Celtic’s defending unravelled, goals flew in “not good from our viewpoint at all,” as O’Neill admitted, and the four-goal cushion vanished in a blur of panic and poor decisions. Extra time brought no reprieve, only more punishment.

The defeat does not just sting sporting pride. It also shunts Celtic into the Europa League and strips at least £20m from their projected income – a financial blow that will shape what they can do off the pitch this season.

O’Neill: ‘That’s my team and my responsibility’

O’Neill has managed Celtic in more than 300 games. He has taken them to European finals, seen title races go to the wire, endured the heartbreak of Seville in 2003. Yet he did not hesitate when asked where this ranked.

“I would say absolutely, yes,” the 74-year-old said when asked if it was among his most painful nights. “I’d put it down before the disappointment of losing the Uefa Cup final in 2003, but it’s so, so disappointing.

“We should have been out of sight by half-time. We scored a goal, which was great, we missed two great, great opportunities. And then we give them a lifeline just before half-time and then one just after it. And they come roaring back.

“And obviously we conceded, from our viewpoint, not good goals at all. But that’s my team and that’s my responsibility.”

Questions over the strength and depth of his squad surfaced immediately, but O’Neill pushed them away for another day, even as he acknowledged the intensity of the contest.

“These are tough games. And it might only be a Champions League qualifying game, but it felt like a Champions League game. I thought they were a fine side. But that doesn’t matter. We should have been able to have seen it through. And we didn’t do. Talking about the squad, that’s for another day.”

McGregor: ‘We got what we deserved’

If the manager took the blame, the captain did not hide either. McGregor, who had set the tone with his early strike, delivered a stark assessment of Celtic’s performance.

“We got what we deserved,” he told Amazon Prime. “I thought we were so passive. All night. We actually looked scared to go and win the game, and when you are 3-0 up it’s psychological.

“To be honest I didn’t think we were that good in the first leg, either. We scored at good times and kind of got away with it. You go 3-0 and you think you’ve got a real chance but when you play like that you can’t have any excuse whatsoever.

“We have to suck it up, apologise to the supporters and the club because there is no way that we should lose that game … Now you’ll see what kind of characters are in there.”

The apology will be cold comfort to a support that watched a Champions League place, and the financial muscle that comes with it, disappear in 120 chaotic minutes. The question now is not what went wrong – that was laid bare in Austria – but how Celtic respond, and whether this collapse becomes a turning point or a defining stain on their season.