For Celtic, this was not just a bad night. It was a reminder that in the Champions League, control means very little if you cannot finish the job. A 5-4 aggregate defeat to Lask after a 5-1 second-leg collapse turned what should have been a routine qualification into another bruising European embarrassment.
Callum McGregor gave Celtic an early boost with a goal after 21 minutes on Tuesday night, but the lead never settled the tie. Lask scored five unanswered goals, struck again in the 90th minute to force extra time, and completed the comeback that sent Celtic out of the Champions League play-off. The scale of the swing was staggering: from position of strength to elimination in the space of one match.
A collapse that told its own story
The raw numbers explain the shock, but the pattern behind them matters more. Celtic had already been criticised last season for failing to spend before qualification was secured, and this summer’s outlay of £23m on four new players was meant to show a more serious response. Instead, the result raised the same old question: were Celtic properly built for the pressure of European qualification, or simply better equipped to talk about it?
Martin O’Neill’s reaction suggested the frustration was not about fine margins. “We should have been out of sight by half-time,” he said. He added that Celtic scored a goal and missed “two great, great opportunities,” only to give Lask “a lifeline just before half-time and then one just after it.” From there, he said, the Austrians came roaring back. It was a blunt assessment, but not an unfair one.
That is the uncomfortable part for Celtic. This was not a case of being outplayed for 90 minutes in a single, unavoidable direction. They had moments, they had chances, and they had the advantage. Then they let it go. The last touch of the first-half momentum, the opening of the second-half door, and the rest of the tie followed.
McGregor, meanwhile, did not hide from the scale of the failure. “We got what we deserved,” he said, before adding, “Now we’ll see what people are made of.” It was the kind of line that belongs after a hard defeat, when the issue is not just recovery but accountability.
The money and the meaning
The consequences stretch beyond embarrassment. Missing out on the Champions League league phase could cost Celtic as much as £40m, a brutal figure for a club that has already been asked hard questions about its European planning. This is what makes the defeat more than a one-off collapse. It is a sporting failure with real financial damage attached.
Last August’s humiliation against Kairat Almaty already damaged Celtic’s European credibility. This setback is worse because it came with a route open, a lead in hand and a tie that should have been controlled. The club have spent £23m, but the performance suggested that expenditure alone does not guarantee readiness.
At 7.45pm, Celtic looked set to finish the night in command. By the end, they were out, beaten 5-1 on the night and 5-4 on aggregate, with the Champions League draw leaving them on the outside looking in. That is the lesson of this tie: in Europe, the difference between progress and embarrassment can be one bad spell, and Celtic lived through all of it.
