Celtic manager Martin O'Neill admitted full responsibility after his side suffered one of the most humiliating European nights in the club's history, blowing a four-goal aggregate lead to crash out of the Champions League play-off round against LASK.
Having arrived in Austria with a commanding cushion, the Scottish champions looked to be cruising toward a place in the group stage. Instead, they endured a total collapse in the second half of the return leg at the Raiffeisen Arena, eventually going down 5-4 on aggregate after extra time in a result that left the travelling support stunned.
The defeat marks the second consecutive season in which Celtic have been eliminated at this stage of the competition, following last year's penalty shootout loss to Kairat Almaty. O'Neill was not in charge for that setback, having taken over afterward to help stabilise the club following Brendan Rodgers' departure and the turbulence of the Wilfried Nancy episode. He went on to guide Celtic to a league and cup double last season, but this latest European exit represents a heavy blow to his tenure.
Speaking candidly after the final whistle, O'Neill did not shy away from the scale of the failure. "I'm responsible for this one," he said. "Without a doubt. Naturally it took me a long time to get over the Uefa Cup final in 2003 but this was majorly disappointing. 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. We know that we are a million miles from the finished article. That's absolutely true. I think we thought that anyway."
Beyond the immediate sporting embarrassment, the manager acknowledged the financial and structural consequences of missing out on the Champions League group stage. "The qualification for the Champions League is major, it's major in every aspect," O'Neill said. "Financially, for prestige, but we have to pick ourselves up. That's my responsibility again to do that. 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. That's not going to be the case but we'll see. Tonight we came up well and truly short, particularly in the second half."
Captain Callum McGregor was equally unsparing in his assessment, telling Amazon Prime that the team's performance fell well short of what was required. "We got what we deserved. We were passive all night. We looked scared to go and win the game," he said. "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."
Former players and pundits were quick to highlight LASK's physical dominance in the second half. Ex-Celtic captain Scott Brown told BBC Radio Scotland that the Austrian side had simply outrun their opponents, while former manager Neil Lennon suggested Celtic looked "exhausted" and "fragile in duels" as the game wore on. Former midfielder Stiliyan Petrov placed collective blame on the squad, insisting that a club of Celtic's stature should never have allowed such a lead to slip.
With the transfer window drawing to a close and the anticipated Champions League revenue no longer on the table, O'Neill now faces the task of rebuilding morale and repositioning his squad for a season that has started with a significant setback rather than the momentum many had expected.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.