LASK overturn a 0-3 deficit from the 1st leg and secure a place in the Champions League league phase for the first time in club history. Getty
Celtic traveled to Austria with a commanding 3-0 lead and every expectation of sealing a return to the Champions Leagueleague phase. By the end of extra time at the Raiffeisen Arena, that lead was gone entirely, and Celtic's Champions League campaign was over — beaten 5-1 on the night in one of the most extraordinary collapses in recent Scottish football history.
Things couldn't have started better for the visitors. Callum McGregor put Celtic ahead in the 21st minute, stretching their aggregate lead to 4-0 and appearing to put the tie to bed before it had really begun. What followed was one of the most remarkable turnarounds LASK's own fans have ever witnessed. Moses Usor pulled one back in the 32nd minute, and Robert Ljubičić leveled the night's score just after halftime in the 48th. Samuel Adeniran made it 3-1 on the night in the 58th minute, and deep into stoppage time, Florian Flecker completed the comeback with a fourth in the 90+1st minute, leveling the aggregate at 4-4 and forcing extra time.
GettyLASK overturn a 0-3 deficit from the 1st leg and secure a place in the Champions League league phase for the first time in club history.
Celtic never recovered. Adeniran struck again in extra time to make it 5-1 on the night and 5-4 on aggregate, sending the Raiffeisen Arena into pandemonium and all but ending the tie. LASK even had a chance to add further insult to injury when Krystof Danek was fouled in the box and won a penalty in the closing stages — but Adeniran's second attempt was saved by Celtic goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo , sparing Celtic from an even more lopsided final scoreline. It barely mattered. The damage was already done.
The collapse raises uncomfortable questions about how Celtic manage two-legged ties once they're holding a big lead. Last season, the club exited at this exact stage on penalties against Kairat Almaty after two goalless legs — a quieter kind of European exit. This time the unraveling was loud and total: a three-goal cushion erased entirely on the road. LASK, who had never reached the Champions League league phase in club history, played with the freedom of a team that had nothing left to lose, and Celtic looked increasingly unable to slow the tide once McGregor's early goal seemed to have settled things.
Missing out on the league phase carries a real financial and sporting cost — the broadcast revenue and weekly exposure to Europe's best clubs that come with Champions League qualification are difficult to replace. Celtic now drop into the Europa League, a legitimate competition but a clear step down from what looked secure a week ago. The manner of this collapse — blowing a three-goal European lead on the road, then failing to find a response until it was already too late — is going to dominate the conversation around this team for a long time.
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