LASK vs Celtic 5-4 Martin O'Neill Reaction to Collapse
The LASK vs Celtic 5-4 Martin O'Neill reaction was as blunt as the scoreline was shocking. Celtic's manager said he alone was responsible after his side blew a four-goal aggregate lead in Tuesday's Champions League play-off second leg. Celtic led 4-0 on aggregate in the 21st minute, then lost 5-1 on the night after extra time to fall 5-4 overall, in what Sky Sports called one of the worst nights in Celtic's European history (Sky Sports, Tuesday night).
"That's my team, that's my responsibility," O'Neill said, pointing to two missed chances and two lifeline goals conceded either side of half-time that let LASK "come roaring back" (Sky Sports, Tuesday night). Captain Callum McGregor agreed, telling Amazon Prime the team "got what we deserved" after being "passive all night" (BBC Sport, Tuesday night). The defeat sends Celtic into the Europa League for a second straight season, and O'Neill said afterward the squad still needs more depth (BBC Sport, Tuesday night).
How Celtic threw away a four-goal aggregate lead
Celtic arrived in Austria already leading 3-0 from the first leg. McGregor's 21st-minute goal made it 4-0 on aggregate, and Celtic appeared to be cruising into the league phase, according to the Guardian (The Guardian, Wednesday).
By O'Neill's own account, that lead should have grown. "We should've been out of sight by half-time. We missed two great opportunities and then we gave them a lifeline right before half-time and then another one just after it. They came roaring back," he said (Sky Sports, Tuesday night).
LASK won the second leg 5-1 after extra time, completing the 5-4 aggregate turnaround and ending Celtic's Champions League run for a second consecutive season (Sky Sports, Tuesday night). Once behind in momentum, Celtic could not settle the game back down. "It's hard to stem it when they're chasing the game and we can't get out for 10 minutes," O'Neill said (Sky Sports, Tuesday night).
Neil Lennon, working as a pundit on the broadcast, described Celtic as "exhausted" and "fragile in duels" through the second half and extra time (BBC Sport, Tuesday night). Former captain Scott Brown, speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, put the swing in perspective: "It was a fantastic start, you go 1-0 up, but that seems like forever ago. Now they've crashed out the Champions League and conceded five goals" (BBC Sport, Tuesday night).
Martin O'Neill takes responsibility for Celtic's defeat
Asked directly after the match, O'Neill said, "I'm responsible for this one," then returned to the same point later: "That's my team, that's my responsibility" (BBC Sport; Sky Sports, both Tuesday night).
Asked whether it was the worst he had felt on the touchline, he compared it to Celtic's 2003 UEFA Cup final loss. "Without a doubt. Naturally it took me a long time to get over the UEFA Cup final in 2003, but this was majorly disappointing," he said, adding: "In the context of things, one was a final which it would have been terrific to win, this was a qualifying game which we should have been able to get through" (BBC Sport, Tuesday night).
O'Neill also pointed to squad depth. "We know that we are a million miles from the finished article. That's absolutely true. I think we thought that anyway," he said, adding that nights like this "show you that we have obviously a lot of work to do in that aspect," referring to depth (BBC Sport, Tuesday night). "These games are real, real tests for you and unfortunately we've failed that test tonight," he said (BBC Sport, Tuesday night).
Not everyone agreed the manager should carry it alone. Former Celtic midfielder Stiliyan Petrov, working as a pundit, was asked who was to blame and answered simply: "Everyone" (BBC Sport, Tuesday night).
What Celtic's Europa League fate means for the transfer window
Missing the Champions League league phase means Celtic missed out on a guaranteed £40m, well short of the roughly £75m the club earned from its Champions League run two seasons ago (Sky Sports, Wednesday).
Had Celtic advanced, the club was reportedly planning to spend more than £20m this week on targets including Torino's Gvidas Gineitis and Slovan Liberec's Ermin Mahmic. Sky Sports reported that Gineitis, valued around £10m, now appears unlikely, while Celtic's recruitment plans are expected to be discussed by the club hierarchy, recruitment team, O'Neill and Maloney this week (Sky Sports, Wednesday).
O'Neill connected the result to recruitment directly. "I think I said last week that if you could qualify for the Champions League there would be players wanting to come on that basis," he said. "That's not going to be the case, but we'll see" (BBC Sport, Tuesday night). Celtic still need a goalkeeper, cover at both full-back positions, central midfield reinforcements and possibly a left winger before next Thursday's deadline (Sky Sports, Wednesday).
Celtic's Champions League collapse fits a wider slide
Tuesday's exit is Celtic's sixth consecutive failure to reach the Champions League through qualifying, and the second straight season the club has missed the league phase specifically (Sky Sports, Wednesday). That run tracks a decline in Scotland's standing within UEFA's association coefficient system, which decides how European places are distributed based on club performance over a five-year window (Sky Sports, Wednesday).
Scotland ranked ninth in Europe four years ago, behind only England, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium. The country now sits 18th and is close to certain to lose one of its five European places this season (Sky Sports, Wednesday).
The coefficient math explains why the competition matters beyond prestige. Wins carry the same base points across the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League, but Champions League bonus points run higher. Finishing top of the Europa League league phase would earn Celtic six bonus points, the same total as finishing last in the Champions League (Sky Sports, Wednesday).
The effect reaches into next season, too. If Celtic win the domestic league this season, they would enter next season's Champions League qualifying at the second round rather than the play-off round, needing three ties and six matches just to reach the league phase (Sky Sports, Wednesday).
What happens next
Celtic now join Friday's Europa League league-phase draw (Sky Sports, Tuesday night).
Before that, club hierarchy, the recruitment team, O'Neill and Maloney are due to meet this week to settle a transfer plan for the final days before next Thursday's deadline (Sky Sports, Wednesday).
Whether Gineitis or Mahmic still arrive remains unresolved. O'Neill's own assessment, that Celtic are "a million miles from the finished article," is the starting point for that conversation (BBC Sport, Tuesday night).