Celtic suffered a second consecutive Europa League defeat as they were thrashed 4-1 by Benfica on matchday two, with the Hoops conceding three goals inside the first 23 minutes of the first half.
Martin O'Neill's side rallied after the break and pulled a goal back through a header from Camilo Duran, but were ruthlessly exposed again with a minute to go when Greece star Vangelis Pavlidis rounded off the scoring.
O'Neill took heart from the second-half showing and still believes his team can bounce back from the two losses to progress to the knockout phase. However, Record Sport has compiled the views of seven ex-pros after another humbling night on the continent.
Pundits slam Celtic's European showing
Ian Paul Joy said: "I don't want to end up in a Scottish national newspaper like I did the last time. I'll just go on a small rant and say that the Celtic are now unrecognisable to me. They have lost four of their last five competitive games. Yes they are top of the Scottish Prem, well done, it's wonderful.
"But I consistently repeat myself; they are not competitive enough on the European stage. There is no faulting the heart and effort from the Celtic players in that game, they had as many shots on target as Benfica did, so they went for it. But you must be kidding me? If you don't invest in the team properly to compete in European football, you'll get freaking nowhere. I'm completely p***** off and always frustrated when I see these types of results. If you look at their last three games in Europe, they've conceded 12 goals. It's unacceptable and Scottish football pays the price for this, which makes me annoyed."
Chris Sutton said: "That feeling of apathy once again tonight. Nobody surprised by the outcome… Flat track bullies." Tam McManus added: "Celtic not even competitive in the Europa League now. Another battering."
Player performances and manager's outlook
Scott Allan said: "For me if I'm a creative midfield player and I've got Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh to pick from to play up front, I'm taking Duran every day of the week. He looks to get off the side of defenders, if you put a ball in the area, he's more likely to be alive to it.
"Hogh just isn't firing on all cylinders. I can take that if he's doing the other side of the game a lot better than he is. You can see why Martin O'Neill made the substitution at half-time and there's no doubt Celtic looked much better going forward."
Alan Brazil said: "Last night, I went to bed at half-time. I thought, I can’t watch this. The boy on the left hand side for them, the Italian name [Gianluca Prestianni] with blonde hair, he was different class. You look at Celtic wide – pants."
Outclassed on the continent
Dean Saunders said: "They just got outclassed. They gave away a ridiculous penalty. Jhon Duran is playing for Benfica now. He scored two. It looked like a Premier League team against a League One team at times, the way Benfica were knocking the ball around."
Alan Thompson said: "3-0 down at half time to Benfica is not good !! I think if we win the SPL this season I’d take that right now as a successful season."
