CALLUM McGREGOR admitted feeble Celtic got what they deserved as they were humiliated 5-1 by LASK in extra-time of their stupefying Champions League play-off second leg in Austria last night.
The Hoops skipper scored in Linz to give the team a 4-0 aggregate advantage, but with just an hour to go, they allowed their opponents back into the contest and push the tie to an extra half-hour before winning 5-4.
Following last year’s shocking exit to Kazakhstan minnows Kairat Almaty, Celtic have now lost their last SIX consecutive qualifiers in Europe’s most prestigious competition.
In doing so, they also blew a £40million windfall for reaching the league stages among the elite.
DISBELIEF…Callum McGregor at the end of another night of Euro misery.
McGregor didn’t even bother to try to defend a gutless display from Martin O’Neill’s blundering side as he said: “We got what we deserved. We were passive all night.
“We actually looked scared to go and win the game. When you are 3-0 up in the tie, it’s psychological. “To be honest, 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.
“We can’t have any excuse and that’s on us.
“It’s as much on the players as anyone else. You can’t lose the game by this margin and start looking for excuses elsewhere.
“We’ll now see what people are made of. We have to realise we’re playing at a big club and we have to bounce back.
“When you play like that and you’re so passive and you go 1-0 up in the game and it still doesn’t settle you, then you can’t have any excuse, and that’s on us.”
TESTING TIMES…Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney share anxiety in the dug-out.
Quizzed if it could be levelled that the squad was not ready or strong enough for this early challenge, McGregor, speaking to the UEFA website, answered: “I guess not, no.
“Everyone’s happy for two or three weeks and then you fall at a big hurdle, these questions are going to get asked.
“It’s as much on the players as anything else, to be honest. You can’t lose that game by such a big margin and then start looking for excuses elsewhere.
“We have to accept that.”
Boss O’Neill and his 33-year-old captain now have to lift a dejected set of players before their Premiership outing against Falkirk at Parkhead on Saturday afternoon.
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