VILJAMI SINISALO was forced to pick the ball from his net five times as Celtic disintegrated in front of him in Austria on Tuesday night.
The alarming collapse saw the Hoops ejected from the Champions League on a 5-4 aggregate after they held a 4-0 lead with an hour to go in their qualifier against LASK.
The Finnish keeper saved a late penalty-kick and was the visitors’ Man of the Match as he did his best to repel the rampant hosts as his team-mates inexplicably buckled under the pressure.
A goal in stoppage-time forced the tie into an added half-hour where, almost inevitably, the Austrians hit the winner after a dreadful error from Luke McCowan.
FLYING FINN…Viljami Sinisalo blocks LASK striker Samuel Adeniran’s late penalty-kick in Celtic’s Champions League collapse in Austria.
Martin O’Neill’s men will now go into the Europa League draw tomorrow afternoon in Nyon instead of the Champions League in Monaco this evening.
And Sinisalo, who took over as the team’s No.1 after the enforced retirement of Danish legend Kasper Schmeichel in February, admitted Celtic only have themselves to blame for the shocking exit.
The 24-year-old shotstopper, who arrived in Glasgow in a £1million switch from Aston Villa in the summer of 2024, said: “Obviously, it’s raw. I’m kind of speechless in a way.
“I’ll try, though, because I don’t think the people coming here to support us deserved that. It’s unacceptable.
“We scored the first goal and you’re thinking: ‘Four-goal lead, that’s it’. They get one at a crucial time for them, which kind of shifts the momentum.
“Tuesday just felt like one of those nights where everything seemed to work for them. We need to find a reason why that was and come back stronger.”
THE LOOK OF DEFEAT…Viljami Sinisalo is left stunned.
After watching his colleagues lose out in the physical battle against powerhouse opponents, Sinisalo, speaking to the Scottish Sun, continued: “I think we lost a bit of the identity of the team that we want to be.
“We want to be a passing football team.
“They’re big, they’re strong. If we start going long, it’s kind of playing into their hands a little bit.
“You can experience losses, but you can’t experience anything like this. You can’t write stuff like this.
“It’s not easy, but we’ll come back stronger. We’ll regroup: we’ve got experienced pros in the changing room who have a lot of experience. They’ve been here a long time and know what’s going to come at us.
“That’s completely fair. People are entitled to say that. We’ve got to take it as a group and, ultimately, be better.”
Sinisalo added: “There’s no need for me to come and say anything else. It’s not what people would want to hear. I’m not going to give you excuses.
“We’ve just not been good enough and that’s why we’re a team now in the Europa League.”
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