Celtic threw away an virtually sure Champions League ticket in weird style on Tuesday night. The Scottish champions took a 3-0 first-leg result in LASK Linz and even went 0-1 up within the return, however crashed to a 5-1 defeat after additional time and should now proceed within the Europa League.
At first, Celtic regarded in full management. Callum McGregor opened the scoring halfway by means of the primary half in Austria, which meant LASK wanted 4 objectives at that time simply to pressure additional time.
LASK refused to surrender and drew degree earlier than half-time by means of Moses Usor. They nonetheless confronted an unlimited activity, however the dwelling aspect saved chasing the upset and flew out after the break.
Robert Ljubicic made it 2-1 shortly after half-time and dragged all the strain again into the tie. When Samuel Adeniran then made it 3-1 about ten minutes later, Celtic began to wobble and perception surged across the Austrians.
From there, LASK saved urgent however needed to wait a very long time for the aim that will pressure additional time. It lastly arrived deep into stoppage time, when substitute Florian Flecker headed dwelling for 4-1 and despatched the Raiffeisen Area wild.
Additional time accomplished Celtic’s nightmare. Shortly after the beginning of the second half of additional time, Adeniran let fly from lengthy vary and the ball flew into the far backside nook: 5-1.
The striker then even had the possibility to finish his hat-trick when LASK had been awarded a penalty. Goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo saved Celtic alive just a little longer with a save, however no late Scottish escape adopted.
Celtic had let a cushty place slip and should now accept a spot within the Europa League. LASK qualify for the Champions League for the primary time within the membership’s historical past and, after Como (Italy) and Sabah (Azerbaijan), are the third debutants on this season’s league part.
