With chaos unfolding throughout the open-air Raiffeisen Arena, neither Celtic nor Martin O’Neill had any place to escape the scrutiny.
It was one of the bleakest European evenings the Scottish champions had ever experienced.
That assessment carries considerable weight after their penalty shootout defeat by Kairat Almaty at the same stage of last year’s Champions League play-offs.
Despite holding a four-goal aggregate advantage over LASK, O’Neill’s side collapsed remarkably after the interval and showed little sign of recovery as they suffered a 5-4 aggregate defeat.
The Celtic manager could not avoid the attention and gave an honest assessment after the final whistle.
“I accept responsibility for this result,” he said.
“There is no question about that. Losing the 2003 Uefa Cup final took me a long time to overcome, but this setback is also deeply disappointing.
“That previous occasion was a final we would have loved to win, whereas this was a qualifying tie we should have been capable of navigating successfully.
“We understand that the team remains far from the complete product. That is undeniable, and I believe we were already aware of it.”
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