Text: STORYTELLER/MH - Photo: Rod Stewart & Celtic FC (Facebook)
There were long faces amongst the large contingent of Celtic fans who had travelled to Linz, and certainly also in north London, where the Stewart family, including patriarch Rod, watched the second leg of the play-offs for the UEFA Champions League group stage.
Celtic Football Club have indeed thrown away their chance of reaching the group stage of Europe’s premier club competition, having won the first leg 3–0 away at Linzer ASK. At the Raiffeisen Arena, the Bhoys in Green lost 1–5 (1–4, 1–1) to the home side after extra time, thereby missing out on Europe’s most prestigious competition for the second year running.
For Sir Rod, it turned into a night of sheer horror following the news of Dolly Parton’s death and the Hoops’ disaster in Austria.
Match report:
In front of 19,000 spectators at the Raiffeisen Arena, the home side initially set the tone, before Celtic’s new signing Mika Baur (who joined from Bundesliga promoted side SC Paderborn) squandered the first big chance for the visitors from Scotland (5th minute). Shortly afterwards, Kasper Høgh was denied by Linz goalkeeper Jungwirth (15th minute).
For the visitors, who were now getting more and more into the game, captain Callum McGregor scored in the 21st minute to make it 1–0. The midfielder, following a pass from Yang Hyun-Jun, fired the ball into the net with his powerful left foot, leaving the keeper with no chance. However, LASK were not ready to admit defeat and equalised through Moses Usor just over half an hour into the match (33’). The score remained 1–1 at half-time.
mmediately after the break, the Hoops were caught off guard: Robert Ljubicic put LASK 2–1 ahead right at the start of the second half (48'). And things did indeed get really uncomfortable for the men from Glasgow. Just under an hour into the game, Samuel Adeniran even made it 3–1 to the home side (58’). The lead from the first leg, which had seemed so secure, suddenly began to crumble, especially as the Austrians now firmly believed in their chances. And just as Celtic were about to get off lightly, LASK struck again. Florian Flecker actually scored in the 90+1st minute to make it 4–1 to the hosts, sending the match into extra time. The 3–0 lead from the first leg was finally squandered. In extra time, things went from bad to worse for O’Neill’s side: Adeniran completed his brace in the 109th minute to make it 5–1, thereby knocking Celtic out of the Champions League for good.
Following today’s humiliating exit, Celtic FC must now turn their attention to the Europa League. The group stage draw will take place on Friday at 1 pm at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, when O’Neill’s men will find out which opponents they will face in the coming months.
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