Celtic suffered a calamitous European exit on Tuesday night, losing 5-1 to Lask in the second leg of their Bigger Cup tie after leading 4-0 on aggregate. The Scottish champions capitulated spectacularly, shipping five goals without reply to crash out in what is arguably their greatest European embarrassment yet.
Early promise turns to disaster
Celtic opened the scoring through a low Callum McGregor shot after 21 minutes, and with a four-goal aggregate lead, the tie seemed beyond Lask's reach. Commentator Bill Leslie even intoned, "And with that moment, this tie surely moves beyond the grasp of Lask," as McGregor's deflected effort fizzed past the home goalkeeper. However, from a position of apparent indomitability, Celtic proceeded to concede five unanswered goals.
O'Neill takes responsibility
Manager Martin O'Neill was left to rue missed opportunities, saying, "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."
Celtic's exit drew criticism from club figures including Chris Sutton, Kasper Schmeichel, Stiliyan Petrov and Neil Lennon, despite their own roles in past European failures. The club had spent £23m on four new players over the summer, but were now criticised for selling top players Arne Engels and Daizen Maeda before qualification was secured. The loss of Bigger Cup paydays could cost Celtic as much as £40m.
No sympathy from rivals
Celtic's humbling is an embarrassment for Scottish football, but rivals are unlikely to offer sympathy, viewing it as karmic retribution for a title won amid questionable refereeing and fan behaviour in the final-day decider against Hearts. McGregor seethed after the game, "We got what we deserved. Now we'll see what people are made of."
The defeat leaves Celtic to ponder what might have been, with a home win over Falkirk on Saturday unlikely to ease the pain.
