CELTIC manager Martin O'Neill says he takes responsibility for Tuesday's 5-1 defeat at LASK that dumped Celtic out of the Champions League.
The Hoops looked on course for the league phase of the competition when Callum McGregor's goal on 21 minutes made it 4-0 on aggregate following last week's 3-0 win in Glasgow.
However, two defensive lapses allowed LASK to take the lead on the night through Moses Usor and Robert Ljubicic before Samuel Adeniran and Florian Flecker scored to force extra time.
Given the turnaround in momentum, it was no surprise when Adeniran struck in the additional period to lead the tie for the first time and ultimately send LASK through 5-4 on aggregate.
O'Neill has enjoyed a whirlwind return to the club, first in two successful interim spells last season before signing a one-year deal in the summer, but this marks the first major setback of his recent tenure.
"Feeling terrible. Really, really terrible," he told Celtic TV after the game.
"Terrible that we've been really disappointing tonight, really in the second half because we should have had the game out of sight.
"We missed some glorious chances.
"We give them a lifeline just before half-time and then just after half-time again so it gives them momentum and they carried that momentum for some time.
"They got back but I thought we were going to see it through. We didn't do at the end and that's my responsibility."
LASK threat
On paper at 4-0, Celtic looked like they were on course for the Champions League proper after McGregor opened the scoring on the night.
However, LASK had already served up warnings before that with Auston Trusty, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Viljami SInsalo's upright denying the hosts, who also carved out a string of chances in the 3-0 defeat in Glasgow last week.
They had 60 efforts across both games, including 40 last night, while Celtic managed 25 overall and eight in Linz.
The visitors did create decent chances outwith McGregor's strike with Mika Baur, Kieran Tierney and Kasper Hogh finding openings but they wilted once LASK levelled on the night.
The goal came after Benjamin Nygren's backpass was pounced upon by the unsighted Usor to slide home past Sinisalo.
The break offered no respite and two minutes into the second half, Trusty was beaten too easily trying to shield the ball out wide before Usor teed up Ljubicic to score from 20 yards.
The confidence drained from Celtic as they struggled to keep possession or play a simple pass and it was no surprise when Adeniran stroked home a fine effort from 25 yards just before the hour mark.
The American hit the bar 10 minutes later as Celtic looked to cling on to their slender aggregate lead — probably not the wisest move given the porous defence and LASK's growing confidence.
However, despite the pricey additions of Camilo Duran and Hogh up front, the visitors did little to trouble Lukas Jungwirth at the other end.
Meanwhile, fellow new forward Haissem Hassan, who impressed for Egypt against Argentina in the World Cup, remained on the Celtic bench throughout.
Celtic almost held out but LASK deservedly levelled the tie when Flecker nodded home on the stroke of 90 minutes after Sinisalo had done well to parry Alemao's initial effort.
Having shipped four in an hour of football during which they were outplayed, it was unlikely Celtic were going to win it in extra time, with their best chance seemingly holding out for a penalty shootout.
As it was, neither transpired as Adeniran gave LASK the lead in the tie for the first time with a long-range daisy-cutter early in the second period of extra-time.
Sinisalo spared Celtic further humiliation with a fine penalty save to deny Adeniran a third but it is the Austrian side who progress to the lucrative league phase of the Champions League.
'Most disappointing night'
After the game, O'Neill admitted they had allowed LASK back into the tie by giving them 'something to hold on to and they took advantage of that'.
"That's the problem and my disappointment is of course that we allowed them," he added.
"We couldn't get it back for a period of time and then we just couldn't get playing our football, [it was] just wave after attack.
"I thought we could have stemmed the flow, some defending, but when we did defend it, the ball was coming back in again.
"So again, it's the most disappointing night I've had in a long, long time."
Celtic fans have long called for further transfer funds to strengthen the squad and to the board's credit, they have invested fairly significantly this summer, to the tune of a reported £25m.
Blowing a four-goal lead with an hour left cannot be blamed on those upstairs but it remains to be seen if they will continue to invest after these returns.
Other areas of the squad clearly need strengthening but the purse strings may once again be tightened after missing out on tens of millions from the Champions League proper.
Even if funds are available, Celtic's attractiveness to players is now hampered by only being able to offer Europa League football.
Celtic will discover their eight opponents in that competition on Friday before hosting Falkirk in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday as they look to maintain top spot in the league.
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