The UEFA Champions League is considered to be the best club competition in the world. As such, every European club strives to participate in it and gain a small portion of profit to go with it.
As qualification goes closer and closer, some teams might stumble and miss out while others might brag and show off that they qualified. This will definitely anger the opposing fans.
Two clubs best illudstrate the above points: Celtic and Fenerbache.
Martin O’Neill’s side travelled to Austria holding a commanding 3-0 advantage from the first leg and looked to have one foot in the league phase when Callum McGregor struck to put Celtic 4-0 ahead on aggregate.
What followed was one of the most extraordinary collapses in the club’s European history.
Celtic suffered an historic collapse as they lost 5-1 to LASK in Linz after extra time, therefore losing 5-4 on aggregate and succumbing to the Austrian champions for a spot in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) League Phase; while LASK will play in the competition’s main draw for the first time.
While Celtic held a commanding lead from the first leg, they would have known that the tie was far from over against the Austrian champions.
Martin O’Neill’s men had the first couple of chances of the game, with Mika Baur’s flick-on almost converted by Kasper Hogh before the Danish striker wasted a fantastic opportunity on the counter.
Soon after the quarter-hour mark, the hosts started to gain a foothold in the game as they tried to haul their way back into the tie.
However, midway through the half, Celtic put themselves in even more control of the tie by opening the scoring. Yang Hyun-jun's cutback found captain Callum McGregor, who struck a first-time effort that took a nick off Andrade and wrong-footed Lukas Jungwirth between the LASK sticks.
With Celtic in the ascendancy, Hogh spurned another good opportunity; although Jungwirth produced a good save on this occasion.
Dietmar Kuhbauer‘s men then took advantage of that reprieve to at least reduce the deficit back to three on aggregate. Benjamin Nygren was Man of the Match in last week’s first leg but the Swedish midfielder had a lapse in concentration as his loose back pass was seized upon by Moses Usor, who slotted home.
Still three goals ahead on aggregate and within 45 minutes of the League Phase, Celtic will have been pleased with the state of affairs at the break.
Nevertheless, Die Schwarz-Weissen came out of the traps quickly after the restart and took the lead on the night to restore hope. On this occasion, Usor turned provider by teeing up Robert Ljubicic, who drilled home.
If Celtic were feeling the pressure after that strike, it would've only ramped up further when LASK found the net once more with around an hour on the clock. Samuel Adeniran wasted some glorious opportunities in Glasgow last week; yet the American striker curled home a stunning first-time effort from all of 30 yards here.
The Raiffeisen Arena was rocking, while the Scottish champions were on the ropes. The Hoops were now camped in their own third and, just before the 70th minute, Adeniran hit the crossbar as a flurry of LASK openings went begging.
Celtic looked as though they had ridden out the storm but, as the game ticked over into stoppage time, substitute Florian Flecker was on hand to nod home the rebound into the empty net, sending the tie into extra-time.
After an uneventful first 15 minutes of the extra 30, LASK finally got their noses in front in the tie for the first time. Luke McCowan was caught in possession in a dangerous area and Adenarin hit a low, hard strike into the bottom corner just out of Sinisalo’s reach.
Adenarin even had the chance for a hat-trick from the spot but was denied by a Sinisalo save. Ultimately, though, it mattered not as the men from Linz held on for an incredible result and will be in Thursday’s League Phase draw.
Martin O’Neill has admitted Celtic’s Champions League qualifying collapse from 4-0 up ranks as one of his most painful nights as the club’s manager.
Celtic held a four-goal aggregate lead against LASK on Tuesday when Callum McGregor scored in the 21st minute in Austria, building on a 3-0 first-leg victory, and appeared to be cruising into the league stage.
Celtic, meanwhile, now have to settle for a UEFA Europa League spot, and this defeat will take some getting over.
Defeat sends Celtic into the Europa League and delivers a damaging financial blow, costing the club at least £40m. O’Neill, who has overseen more than 300 games as manager, said the loss was one of the most painful.
"I would say absolutely, yes," the 74-year-old said. "I’d put it down before the disappointment of losing the Uefa Cup final in 2003, but it’s so, so disappointing.
"We should have been out of sight by half-time. We scored a goal, which was great, we missed two great, great opportunities. And then we give them a lifeline just before half-time and then one just after it. And they come roaring back. And obviously we conceded, from our viewpoint, not good goals at all. But that’s my team and that’s my responsibility."
Asked whether his squad was strong enough, O’Neill said: "These are tough games. And it might only be a Champions League qualifying game, but it felt like a Champions League game. I thought they were a fine side. But that doesn’t matter. We should have been able to have seen it through. And we didn’t do. Talking about the squad, that’s for another day."
McGregor, the captain, accepted there were no excuses. "We got what we deserved," he told Amazon Prime. "I thought we were so passive. All night. We actually looked scared to go and win the game, and when you are 3-0 up 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 kind of got away with it. You go 3-0 and you think you’ve got a real chance but when you play like that you can’t have any excuse whatsoever."
"We have to suck it up, apologise to the supporters and the club because there is no way that we should lose that game…Now you’ll see what kind of characters are in there."
The assessment from inside the victorious home dressing room only makes for more painful reading from a Celtic perspective.
LASK manager, Dietmar Kühbauer, revealed the belief his players had that they could achieve what had appeared almost impossible before kick-off – while insisting his side completely dominated the Scottish champions.
Kühbauer said via Sky Sports Austria: "It’s an incredible feeling. The way the lads played today, they simply have to qualify for the Champions League. Of course, we know the competition is even tougher there. But I think Celtic is also a good opponent."
"We completely dominated them today, and all the statistics show that. I really take my hat off to this team because they essentially made the impossible possible. That’s why I’m very, very happy to be their coach."
When Callum McGregor eviscerated his own team-mates in the wake of Celtic's stupefying Champions League collapse against LASK; he delivered their one coherent moment of a spineless night.
In branding his fellow players "passive" and "scared" and in then sending a telling shot across their bows - "now we'll see what people are made of" - it is hard to recall him being so full of fury after a European game.
There are plenty to choose from, plenty of dark nights, plenty of embarrassment, plenty of soul-searching over many years.
For close to a decade he has been Celtic's best player; a near ever-present. That longevity has brought him many trophies but he's been around for many mortifications, too.
Where losing a 4-0 advantage ranks in the pantheon of Celtic failures is a moot point. What is unarguable is that it was a total capitulation; a feeble collapse in the face of LASK's physicality and desire and belief.
The Celtic captain called his players "scared" when winning 4-0. No media hatchet man could come up with a more damaging word to describe what happened out there.
McGregor has been through the European mill.
He was there last season when Celtic's fecklessness saw them go goalless for 210 minutes against the popgun boys of Kazakhstan side, Kairat Almaty, before failing to score from three of their five penalties in the shootout.
He was there for the 7-1 against Borussia Dortmund and the 6-0 against Atletico Madrid.
He's a survivor of the Champions League play-off exit to Danish side, Midtjylland and the pair of 4-1 losses to Sparta Prague in the Europa League. He was around for earlier Champions League play-off exits against Ferencvaros, AEK Athens and Cluj.
He's a veteran of the 7-1 loss to PSG and the 7-0 loss to Barcelona. He wears the scars as much as he holds the medals.
It is difficult, though, to recall him being as seething as he was on Tuesday night. He wasn't ranting - that is not his style. He spoke calmly which lent his words more power.
He was raging in his own way. Raging at another exit, raging that when the chips were down too many of his fellow players panicked and allowed themselves to be overrun; raging at professional pride being trampled underfoot for all to see.
Nobody could've predicted that they would fall in such a heap at 4-0 but they did. Celtic, quite obviously, need a back-up left-back to Kieran Tierney and they don't have one.
They absolutely need, and this is no secret, a physical presence in the middle of the pitch; a player of stature in every sense of the word and a guy who wouldn't be bullied as Celtic were bullied in Austria. They don't have one of those either.
They have done good deals but not enough of them. They're in net profit in their transfer business this summer.
The A-word - ambition - is going to get another airing. When you finish a £40m match with a back four of Ralston, Murray, Trusty and Scales then, as a club, you have not done your work properly. Nobody did on the night, on the field and off.
All those other defeats were incredibly costly in a financial but also in a self-worth sense.
They hoped they'd left the Champions League drawing board behind, but they're right back where they were when Kairat and Midtjylland and Hungarian side, Ferencvaros and Romanian side, Cluj and AEK were the ones inflicting the pain.
Incredibly, another name has to get added to the list.
Heading to France and Matteo Guendouzi was at the centre of heated scenes as celebrations turned into a brawl following Fenerbahce's 2-1 win against Lyon in the Champions League play-offs second leg.
It is because of his past and his ties to arch-rivals Olympique Marseille, where he played from 2021 to 2024, the Frenchman was booed and abused by Lyon supporters even during the warm-up. Guendouzi later said in the mixed zone, for the record after the scandal, that the worst insults had targeted his family, his children and his mother. He said that was the only reason he behaved so provocatively during the heated match.
The game in Lyon descended into chaos after the final whistle, with clashes breaking out on the pitch and in the tunnel as players and staff from both sides became involved.
Guendouzi appeared to taunt sections of the home support following Fenerbahce's victory.
The former Arsenal midfielder was repeatedly booed by the French club's supporters during the match and team-mates were seen ushering him away as tempers flared.
After the scuffle at full-time, Guendouzi was seen shouting "Allez l'OM" towards a pitchside camera, referencing Marseille.
Video circulating on social media also appeared to show an individual wearing a Lyon kit confronting the France midfielder as he made his way towards the tunnel; with security staff and members of both teams getting involved.
A melee broke out in the tunnel between both teams, although the identity of the individual who confronted Guendouzi is unclear. With a 3-2 aggregate victory, the Turkish side booked their place in the Champions League for the first time since 2008-09.
After a 1-1 draw in the first leg, Vedat Muriqi and Archie Brown scored for Fenerbahce as a second-half goal from Malick Fofana proved not enough for Lyon.
Speaking after the game to reporters, Guendouzi said he felt "disrespected" by Lyon fans who were taunting him with "insults" about his family. "If we can't celebrate the way we want afterward, I find that disappointing," he added.
"When you have 60 000 people insulting your family, your mother, your children, even before the game and no one on the referees side tells the crowd to be quiet."
"I know that in France, when this kind of thing happens, there comes a point where they'll talk to the fans to stop and maybe stop the match."
Fenerbahce head coach, Ismail Kartal, addressed the incident in his post-match news conference, saying: "As a team we all stood together to support Guendouzi."
"Support was provided. That is what teamwork is all about."
After Lyon-Fenerbahce, as reported by RMC Sport, Guendouzi explained the reasons behind the gesture that sparked a brawl: "When 60,000 people insult your family, your mother, your children even before the match and no one in the stadium tells them to be quiet. If you want to provoke, it works both ways. If you cannot celebrate as you want to. If you cannot make the JUL sign, where are we going!"
As the Turks celebrated qualification, Guendouzi set out to wind up his rivals by making, among other things, Jul’s sign, a rapper from Marseille. The gesture sparked the reaction of Lyon fans and players, who tried to take justice into their own hands. A brawl broke out on the pitch and then in the tunnel leading to the dressing rooms, with the players separated by the coaching staffs. Caught by the cameras, the former Lazio player then shouted "Allez l’OM", meaning "Come on Marseille."
"In Ligue 1, in such cases, they would speak to the fans and order them to stop, otherwise they would abandon the match. But here, for more than 90 minutes, including the warm-up phase, they shouted insults at my family, my wife, my children. That hit me deeply, it really shook me. For me, that was pure disrespect," the former Hertha BSC player said in defence of his actions during and after the game.
During the warm-up, the 27-year-old had already shown Lyon fans the middle finger. Then, after Archie Brown's goal for 2-0 in the 28th minute, he celebrated demonstratively in front of the Lyon end and hurled a few provocative gestures back at the fans. Stewards and security barriers stopped anyone getting on to the pitch even then.
After the final whistle, Guendouzi celebrated exuberantly, skipping across the pitch and furious Lyon players reacted by piling into a melee. Once things settled down, the midfielder set off on another highly personal lap of honour and clashed with the fans again. Videos show him walking towards Lyon supporters by a corner flag, sticking out his tongue and grabbing his crotch while cups fly towards him.
When his team-mates finally managed to usher him down the tunnel, Guendouzi kept celebrating with plenty of gestures. Then it kicked off completely. In the tunnel area, Guendouzi was apparently confronted by a Lyon staff member - who launched himself at the 27-year-old with a flying kick. A wild brawl then broke out between the two camps, involving numerous players from both teams.
One video, for example, shows Lois Openda, the former Bundesliga player for RB Leipzig, holding his face and then going after a security guard.
Later, Corentin Tolisso, the former Bayern Munich player and Lyon captain, tore into Guendouzi's behaviour. "He should stay humble in victory and celebrate with his team in the dressing room. It's unnecessary," Tolisso told Canal+. Guendouzi had told him "it was because the fans had insulted him. But we are insulted every weekend when we play away. We cannot react like that."
Not all teams can handle the pressure of a scoreline. Most often, they can take it for granted. It's important that they keep their heads level and remain concentrated on the task at hand. Nothing can be garunteed.
It seems to me that it was Guendouzi who instigated this whole thing. He should've kept his nose clean. By doing so, this whole thing could've been avoided. It's best to stay away from trouble as far as possible.