Celtic have spent the last couple of years making Champions League qualification look like a problem they simply cannot solve. But even by their recent standards, this was a collapse of remarkable proportions. Four goals ahead with less than an hour still to play across the tie, Celtic somehow found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-4 aggregate defeat to LASK.
A place in the league phase was theirs to lose - and they lost it spectacularly, with individual mistakes, questionable decisions and a team that appeared to run out of answers when the pressure mounted. The fallout will inevitably focus on Martin O'Neill, who took responsibility for the defeat afterwards. But this feels like a much bigger failure than one manager or one night.
It raises questions about the squad Celtic have assembled, the decisions made in the transfer market and whether the club were truly prepared for their biggest test of the season. So, let's break down Celtic's current situation. O'Neill took full responsibility.
But the truth is they are all to blame. Should the Celtic players be blowing a four-goal lead with less than an hour to play? Did individual errors and complacency cost them on the night?
Did O'Neill make the right subs? Probably not - the team was severely weakened with every change and then, similar to Thomas Tuchel's England against Argentina, they were left with no attacking options when the inevitable happened. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player But were Celtic fully prepared for this qualifier, compared to last season?
They were certainly more prepared. The signings of Kasper Hogh, Camilo Duran, Mika Baur and Haissem Hassan cost around £32m. They seem to have improved the squad.
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