Callum McGregor delivered a scathing assessment of Celtic's Champions League exit, branding the team "scared" after they squandered a 3-0 aggregate lead to lose 5-1 to LASK in Austria.
Celtic took a 3-0 advantage into the second leg of the playoff, with goals from Camilo Duran and Benjamin Nygren in the first leg putting them on the brink of the group stage. McGregor's deflected effort gave them the lead on the night, but LASK fought back to win the tie 5-1 in extra time, eliminating Celtic and costing the club a £40million league phase jackpot.
McGregor's Blunt Verdict
Speaking to Prime Video after the match, McGregor did not hold back in his criticism of the performance. "We got what we deserved. We were passive all night," he said. "We actually looked scared to go and win the game. When you are 3-0 up in the tie it's psychological."
He added: "To be honest, I didn't think we were that good in the first leg either. We scored at good times and got away with it. We have to suck it up. We apologise to our supporters and the club because there's no way we should lose that game."
McGregor stressed the need for unity, saying: "We have got to stick together; we have got to suck it up. Now you will see what type of characters are in there. You sign well and everyone is happy for two, three weeks and then you fall at a big hurdle. You can't lose that game by such a big margin. It's as much on the players as everyone else. You can't look for excuses elsewhere."
Dressing Room Lockdown
Kasper Schmeichel, who was Celtic's No. 1 last season, revealed the squad would face an uncomfortable night in Austria. He said: "I think today there is two ways of going about it [in the dressing room]. You can rant and rave and get annoyed and all that, but personally I think there is going to be deafening silence in there. That is OK because they are going to have to think long and hard about how this season is going to go."
Schmeichel noted the travel restrictions added to the difficulty: "One of the things that is really bad tonight is that when you play in some countries like Austria you are not allowed to fly home after the game. So, they are going to have to sit in the hotel all night. In the hotel it can be difficult to sleep. So, it's really important they get all the talking and all the frustration out, because once they go back to Glasgow they need to regroup, and get the fans back onside."
