Celtic's Collapse in Austria: A Brutal Reality Check

Celtic’s collapse in Austria was bad enough on the scoreboard. The reaction from their own was even more brutal.

From 4-0 up on aggregate to a 5-1 hammering by LASK and a place in the Europa League instead of the Champions League, Martin O’Neill’s side didn’t just lose a tie. They were accused of losing their nerve, their legs and their standards.

“Those players were hiding”

Stiliyan Petrov has lived the pressure of Celtic and of playing under O’Neill. What he saw in Linz infuriated him.

“You have to stand up and be counted, show character, be able to deal with the pressure,” he said on Amazon Prime. “Those players were hiding.

“When they had to take responsibility with the ball, they didn’t take it. They were losing the ball very easily. LASK were better in second balls, more aggressive. They wanted it more.”

Celtic built their modern identity on dominating games, squeezing the life out of opponents. Petrov saw the opposite.

“Celtic try to dominate games and be in control. But there was nothing there. They couldn’t take the sting out the game, they couldn’t slow the game down.

“Sometimes you need big players to do that. You need players to control that, control the team. You have to stand up, be brave and be strong.

“You have to run more, you have to close people down, you have to make decisions on the pitch, important decisions and important moments that make the difference. Those decisions were not there.”

The accusation was clear: the stage was big, the pressure was heavy, and too many shrank.

Lennon questions fitness and mentality

Neil Lennon, another former Celtic captain and manager, went straight for the physical side. For him, Celtic were simply overrun.

“Physically they weren’t up to it, running power they weren’t up to it,” he said. “LASK were the better team and they wanted it more, and that’s not something you can say about a Martin O’Neill team very often.”

Then came the image that will alarm supporters as much as the goals conceded.

“Second half I saw three or four players go down with cramp. It’s only 65-70 minutes into the game. That’s a worry for me.

“It could be a physical thing, it could be a psychological thing. For me it’s a sign of not being strong. They looked exhausted at times.”

Cramp in a season-defining night, with a four-goal cushion in hand, felt symbolic: a team that couldn’t last, couldn’t hold, couldn’t see it through.

Brown turns spotlight on the bench

If the starting XI froze, the bench didn’t thaw anything. Scott Brown, who captained Celtic through countless European nights, looked at the substitutions and saw a squad short of Champions League level.

Across 120 minutes, O’Neill turned to Liam Scales, Anthony Ralston, Dane Murray, Luke McCowan, Reo Hatate and Sebastian Tounekti. Brown was unconvinced.

“I don’t think the subs made any impact on the game,” he told BBC Radio Scotland. “You want something from them – running power, a bit of calmness on the ball – and we didn’t get that.

“They are bringing players in that are actually in the starting 11 but it shows you, on that bench, they need better quality players to come on.”

The message cut deep: if these are the players trusted to change a game of this magnitude, then the recruitment hasn’t gone far enough.

Schmeichel warns of “huge ramifications”

Kasper Schmeichel knows this competition and this club from the inside. He was in goal for last season’s play-off disappointment. To him, this was more than another bad night.

“This is going to have huge ramifications,” he said on Amazon Prime. “The Champions League is unique and the Europa League doesn’t have the same prestige. It impacts players’ lives and particularly the players that maybe we were looking to sign, that could have an impact on it.”

The sporting hit is obvious. The financial and psychological blow could run deeper.

“I know it’s going to be a really, really hard reaction towards the players, towards the management.

“It’s going to be a monumental task for them to motivate themselves and to get the fans back on side. Because you saw at the end, it wasn’t pleasant scenes. And we saw what happened last season, it’s not pleasant. And it’s not pleasant to be a player in that environment either.”

The scars from last year had barely healed. Now they are open again.

O’Neill: “That’s my team and that’s my responsibility”

For Martin O’Neill, a manager who has taken Celtic through more than 300 matches and some of the club’s greatest modern nights, this one cut deeper than most.

Asked where it ranked among his worst experiences, he didn’t hesitate.

“I would say absolutely, yes,” the 74-year-old said. “I’d put it down before the disappointment of losing the Uefa Cup final in 2003, but it’s so, so disappointing.”

The regret started with missed chances.

“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.”

On the question of squad strength, he chose his words carefully.

“These are tough games. And it might only be a Champions League qualifying game, but it felt like a Champions League game. I thought they were a fine side. But that doesn’t matter. We should have been able to have seen it through. And we didn’t do. Talking about the squad, that’s for another day.”

The inquest into personnel can wait. The damage to reputation cannot.

McGregor: “We actually looked scared”

Inside the dressing room, there was no attempt to sugar-coat what had happened. Captain Callum McGregor faced the cameras and stripped the performance bare.

“We got what we deserved,” he told Amazon Prime. “I thought we were so passive. All night. We actually looked scared to go and win the game, and when you are 3-0 up it’s psychological.”

He didn’t spare the first leg either.

“To be honest I didn’t think we were that good in the first leg either. We scored at good times and kind of got away with it. You go 3-0 and you think you’ve got a real chance but when you play like that you can’t have any excuse whatsoever.

“We have to suck it up, apologise to the supporters and the club because there is no way that we should lose that game … Now you’ll see what kind of characters are in there.”

That is where Celtic stand now: out of the Champions League, under fierce scrutiny from their own icons, their captain openly questioning their courage. The tie is gone. The real test, the one that will define this season, starts in the aftermath.