CELTIC manager Brendan Rodgers has said he is 'bitterly disappointed' after watching his side slump to an embarrassing Champions League exit at the hands of Kazakh side Kairat Almaty.
The Scottish champions failed to score in three-and-a-half hours of football over two legs and extra-time before having three penalties saved in the shootout.
While Rodgers has hinted at his desire to strengthen his squad during the summer transfer window, questions will no doubt be asked as to why Celtic failed to overcome a side more than 250 places below them in UEFA's rankings.
"The emotion obviously is everyone's bitterly disappointed," Rodgers told Celtic TV after the game.
Celtic fans probably thought their team couldn't play any worse than last week's stalemate in Glasgow, where a late Daizen Maeda effort that was easily saved was their best chance of the first leg.
Sadly, for 90 minutes at the Almaty Central Stadium, they were proved wrong as, once again, a late Maeda effort — this time fired over — was their main chance of note.
The visitors looked brighter in extra time but it was a case of too little, too late as Kairat converted three of their four penalties to progress.
Kairat players and staff celebrate following their penalty shoutout victory (Image: Craig Williamson / SNS Group via Getty Images)Rodgers said Kairat 'were playing for that moment at the end' but he can have no complaints at the result — the Kazakhs matched his side for 210 minutes and bettered them when it counted.
"I think over the two games, I'm really disappointed with the first half of the first game," Rodgers told Celtic TV.
"We wanted to take a lead to here but we didn't play well enough or show enough quality or the things you need to do to win the game.
"In this game here, the questions that are asked of you… the pitch was very, very difficult.
"I think you seen the quality of the football was a really low level, I felt, but we still had chances and didn't quite take them.
"When you don't, you run the risk of going to penalties and sadly for us, it's another tie that we've lost on penalties."
He added: "There's not a lot you can say to the players now, they're hugely disappointed, they have lots of endeavour, lots of honesty in the performance — we just didn't have that bit of quality to break them down."
Fall-out
Rodgers may have felt his side underperformed in the first half last week — the fans will argue they underperformed across the whole tie and lacked more than a 'bit' of quality.
There was the occasional ray of hope — James Forrest hitting the woodwork in Glasgow and Luke McCowan's extra-time effort in Almaty — but it was a poor return on expectations.
Both the manager and fans could arguably point to a lack of investment to improve the squad, with a reported outlay of just €3.5m against an income of €23m so far this summer, according to Transfermarkt.
They could also make the case that key players Nicholas Kühn and Kyogo Furuhashi — a reported £10m departure in January — have not been adequately replaced.
However, Celtic's current squad is valued at €130m, more than 10 times that of Almaty (€12.8m), according to Transfermarkt.
The website also says that while Celtic have reportedly paid just €1.73m for Shin Yamada and €1.5m for Benjamin Nygren this summer, both fees still dwarf Almaty's biggest outlay this term — €100,000 for Jorginho.
During Saturday's home league win over Livingston, the fans expressed their disappointment at the board (Image: Craig Williamson / SNS Group via Getty Images)While the fans will want the board to loosen the purse strings, the men at the top can use Tuesday's failure to qualify for the Champions League proper as a reason for thriftiness, as well as pointing to the value for money (or otherwise) of Rodgers' previous signings.
Maik Mawrocki (€5m*), Luis Palma (€4.75m*), Gustaf Lagerbielke (€3.4m*) and Odin Holm (€3m*) arrived in Rodgers' first summer of his second spell and have either left permanently or on loan, with all except Palma failing to make more than 14 league appearances for the club.
Of last season's permanent arrivals, Arne Engels (€13m*), Adam Idah (€9.9m*) and Paulo Bernardo (€3m*) started last night's must-win game on the bench.
While out injured, Auston Trusty (€7.1m*) started only one of the first four games this season and was left on the bench for the Scottish Cup final defeat to Aberdeen in May.
While the squad may need refreshed, it could be argued there was enough quality — and enough money spent — to overcome Kairat.
Rodgers' side have the opportunity to appease the supporters with a derby coming up against Rangers on Sunday but despite the Ibrox side's own woes, it would be a brave fan who would bet on Celtic taking three points in Govan after two insipid European displays.
Even if the Hoops do snatch a win, you feel the finger-pointing and what-ifs over missing out on the pounds and prestige of the Champions League will continue long after this weekend.
* All fees according to Transfermarkt
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