Celtic's Champions League bottle job costs £40MILLION after horror LASK defeat

Celtic's catastrophic failure to qualify for the Champions League has seen the club miss out on a whopping £40million. Martin O'Neill's side will compete in the Europa League this season after falling at the final hurdle in qualifying on Tuesday.

After romping to a 3-0 victory over Austrian opponents LASK at Parkhead last week, Celtic were the favourites to advance when they made the trip to Linz for the return leg. The Scottish champions even got off to a dream start, with Callum McGregor extending their lead on aggregate to four goals when he scored in the 22nd minute.

But then it fell all apart. LASK's two goals before half-time followed by another just shy of the hour mark meant that it was game on.

And in the 90th minute, substitute Florian Flecker scored to send the match to extra-time. Although Celtic looked to have steadied the ship and with penalties looming, Luke McCowan was robbed of possession on the egde of their box, allowing LASK striker Samuel Adeniran to tuck home what proved to be the decisive goal in the rollercoaster tie.

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Adeniran missed a penalty six minutes later to give Celtic an inkling of hope. But the visitors couldn't recover and bowed out in embarrassing fashion.

Aside from the ignominy of having to compete in Europe's second-rate competition when they were minutes away from sitting at the top table, the loss also hits them financially. Celtic have gone from looking at a £40m jackpot to less than a quarter of that.

The Bhoys' failure will likely affect their transfer business, too, with former Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel pointing out on commentary that certain targets may've only considered a move to Glasgow had they been able to offer Champions League football. Celtic captain McGregor admitted that his team 'looked scared' during the collapse, apologising to fans.

Will Tuesday go down as Celtic's worst night in European football? Have your say in the comments section.

"We got what we deserved," the 33-year-old told Prime Video Sport. "We were passive all night. We looked scared to go and win the game.

"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.

"It's as much on the players as everyone else. You can't look for excuses elsewhere. You'll now see what people are made of."

Meanwhile, O'Neil took responsibility for the crushing defeat. "We should have the game out of sight," the Celtic boss said. "We missed some glorious chances and we gave them a lifeline just before half-time and then just after half-time again.

"So it gave them momentum and they carried that momentum for some time. I thought we were going to see it through. We didn't do it at the end and that's my responsibility. It's the most disappointing night I've had in a long, long time."

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