All applicable, all too familiar, all can be levied at Celtic after their Champions League qualification blunder away to LASK. A night that started full of hope and optimism as Celtic edged four goals clear on aggregate after 21 minutes ended in deep humiliation in a 5-4 aggregate defeat after extra time. At the same stage last season, their disastrous loss to Kairat Almaty ultimately cast a long shadow over their season and was the nexus point for an overflow of negative fan sentiment towards the club.
Here's how Celtic's nightmare evening unfolded. LASK started strongly but nowhere near as well as they finished it. A few chances passed them by before Yang Hyun-jun showed great poise wide on the left to drive forward, cut inside, and pull it back for captain Callum McGregor to step onto.
His strike was deflected past a helpless goalkeeper and gave his side a 4-0 aggregate lead after 21 minutes. "We're having a party in the Champions League" was the chant coming from the pocket of Celtic fans over on the far side. Their passage to the Champions League seemed nigh on inevitable.
Samuel Adeniran nodded off target just after the restart and then pulled one wide - the warning signs were there. LASK had passed up a glut of chances but didn't need to work hard to draw level on the night. Moses Usor pounced on Benjamin Nygren's pass straight into his path and coolly finished to spark a little bit of hope inside the Raiffeisen Arena.
Surely Celtic had banished their Kairat demons? Surely this would be scant consolation for the hosts? "It's a lovely composed finish, but that is an absolute gift," James McFadden said on BBC Radio Scotland.
An uneventful opening few minutes to the second half came and went without note. Then Robert Ljubicic gave the home fans an almighty dose of confidence. Defender Auston Trusty was caught lacking, and Ljubicic was afforded far too much time to shape and shoot on the edge of the area.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
