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<\/p>\nCeltic captain Callum McGregor was left visibly furious after one of the most painful European nights in the club\u2019s recent history, as Celtic suffered a stunning 5-1 defeat to LASK in Austria and surrendered a four goal aggregate advantage. The result sent the Scottish champions crashing out of the Champions League after they had appeared to be comfortably in control of the tie.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
McGregor had actually given Celtic the perfect start, scoring in the 21st minute to put his side 4-0 ahead on aggregate. At that stage, qualification appeared almost certain. Instead, Celtic completely lost control of the contest, allowing LASK to score five times and eventually win the tie 5-4 after extra time.<\/p>\n
For McGregor, the defeat was particularly painful because of the manner in which Celtic surrendered their advantage. The captain did not attempt to hide his disappointment afterwards, accepting responsibility while making it clear that the players had fallen dramatically below the standards expected at Celtic.<\/p>\n
The midfielder described Celtic\u2019s performance as passive and admitted that the team had looked scared during crucial periods of the match. His comments immediately attracted attention because they represented an unusually blunt assessment from the Celtic captain after such a devastating result.<\/p>\n
While McGregor did not publicly identify two specific teammates by name, his criticism of the collective performance was strong enough to leave supporters wondering whether certain players would be forced to answer serious questions inside the dressing room.<\/p>\n
The Celtic captain effectively dismantled the performance of his teammates by questioning the mentality shown when LASK began to fight back. Celtic had every reason to believe they were heading through, but instead of controlling the game and killing off the contest, they allowed the Austrian side to grow in confidence.<\/p>\n
That was the biggest frustration for McGregor.
\nA team with Celtic\u2019s experience should have been capable of slowing the match down, keeping possession and protecting its enormous aggregate advantage. Instead, LASK repeatedly found opportunities, and Celtic eventually collapsed under the pressure.<\/p>\n
The statistics and final score underline just how dramatic the turnaround was. LASK scored four times after McGregor had opened the scoring, with Florian Flecker\u2019s late equaliser forcing extra time before Samuel Adeniran delivered the decisive blow in the 109th minute.
\nFor Celtic supporters, watching their captain acknowledge that the team deserved the consequences was difficult but revealing.<\/p>\n
McGregor reportedly apologised directly to the supporters and accepted that Celtic had not done enough to protect their advantage. He also stressed that the players had to take responsibility rather than search for excuses.
\nThat message could prove significant in the days ahead.<\/p>\n
Celtic now have to recover from what has been described as one of the most extraordinary European collapses in the club\u2019s history. The defeat means they will once again compete in the Europa League rather than the Champions League, while the financial consequences of missing out on the competition\u2019s league phase are also substantial.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
McGregor\u2019s frustration is understandable. As captain, he knows that responsibility begins with the senior players. He scored the goal that appeared to settle the tie, only to watch the situation completely unravel.<\/p>\n
The anger surrounding the performance is therefore unlikely to disappear quickly.
\nFor the Celtic dressing room, the challenge now is responding to the captain\u2019s words. McGregor has effectively demanded a reaction from his teammates without hiding behind excuses. The players must now demonstrate that the collapse in Austria was an isolated disaster rather than evidence of deeper problems.<\/p>\n
Manager Martin O\u2019Neill will also have difficult questions to answer after Celtic surrendered a 3-0 first leg lead and then a four goal aggregate advantage in the second leg. The official Celtic account described the result as European heartache, while the manager acknowledged the disappointment following the 5-1 defeat.
\nFor McGregor, however, the priority is clear.
\nCeltic cannot change what happened in Linz. They cannot recover the Champions League place they surrendered. What they can do is respond.<\/p>\n
The captain\u2019s furious reaction has placed the spotlight firmly on the players, and Celtic supporters will now expect those who failed under pressure to prove themselves when the team returns to domestic action.
\nOne thing is certain: after throwing away a four goal advantage and suffering a 5-1 defeat, Celtic\u2019s players will have to live with one of the toughest nights of their careers.
\nAnd McGregor\u2019s brutal honesty has ensured that nobody inside the dressing room can pretend otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Celtic captain Callum McGregor was left visibly furious after one of the most painful European nights in the club\u2019s recent history, as Celtic suffered a stunning 5-1 defeat to LASK in Austria and surrendered a four goal aggregate advantage. The result sent the Scottish champions crashing out of the Champions League after they had appeared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzecho.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzecho.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzecho.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzecho.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzecho.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newzecho.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":892,"href":"https:\/\/newzecho.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889\/revisions\/892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzecho.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzecho.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzecho.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzecho.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}