Stiliyan Petrov has accused Celtic players of "hiding" during their Champions League collapse against LASK. Martin O'Neill's men were 4-0 up on aggregate after Callum McGregor's first-half strike, but the Austrian champions came roaring back to hit five goals without reply, inflicting one of the most humiliating results in the Hoops' history.
Post-mortem begins after £40m jackpot thrown away
The post-mortem has begun as the Parkhead club yet again threw away the £40 million jackpot they had within their grasp, consigning themselves to another campaign in the Europa League. This comes despite the Celtic board finally loosening the purse strings this summer, although there are clearly still big gaps in the squad that needed filling before the two-legged playoff showdown.
Progress in the competition Celtic now find themselves in will be demanded to make up for missing out on their first choice in such calamitous fashion. The Celts VIPs couldn't sugarcoat their assessments of a disastrous night for the club on the continent.
Petrov: "Those players were hiding"
Stiliyan Petrov said: "Everyone (is to blame). Everyone. They're all in it together. We're sitting here with a three-goal lead after 45 minutes. A big club like Celtic should be able to handle that. We talk about what Martin O'Neill would demand from the players. Sometimes you have to stand up and be counted. I have to show the character and be able to deal with the pressure. Tonight, those players were hiding. There was nothing there. When they had to take responsibility on the ball, they didn't take it, and were losing the ball very easily."
"LASK were better on second balls, were more aggressive and wanted it more. If you want to be in the Champions League, you either want it or don't want it. It seems like tonight Celtic didn't want it and this is really disappointing."
Lennon and Schmeichel on the collapse
Neil Lennon said: "It will be up there (with worse ever results). To lose a four-goal lead with 70 minutes to go, it's not great. I don't like to criticise the team or the club but they're going to have to face the criticism after that."
"It looked to me as if Celtic were exhausted. Fragile in duels. It only looked like there would be one winner. Huge credit to LASK. They battered Celtic, physically and on the football side. It could have been more. They had no game at the weekend and that's a worry for me. It could be a physical thing, it could be a psychological thing. But for me it's a sign of not being strong. Mentally strong. I've no explanation for that, players going down with cramp so early in the game and so many of them."
Kasper Schmeichel said: "If you look at the tie as a whole, LASK were the better team. Callum (McGregor) was exactly right in his assessment of the first leg as well. It wasn't as if Celtic were absolutely brilliant but they did score at the right times and LASK missed their chances. If you look at the game tonight, statistically LASK were far better than Celtic."
"Momentum is a massive thing in the game and Celtic gifted that to LASK with the first goal. When I look back at what we were talking about at the end of the first half and what we needed from the game, was a mature performance. I'm looking at my notes; keep it tight, take the heat out of the game, keep the crowd silent. They did none of that in the second half and they paid the price for it."
Sutton and Brown weigh in
Chris Sutton said: "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail… People can say what they like about the collapse and I respect that but why sell your legs in midfield and weaken your team when the biggest games of the season are around the corner. Why sell Maeda? It's just stupid… the justification is in the winning… Celtic lost…"
Scott Brown said: "It looked to me as if Celtic were exhausted. Fragile in duels. It only looked like there would be one winner. Huge credit to LASK. They battered Celtic tonight, physically and on the football side. It could have been more."
