Brendan Rodgers admitted Celtic have been the architects of their own downfall after being knocked out of the Champions League.
On a humbling evening in Kazakhstan, the Scottish champions lost on penalties to Kairat Almaty after failing to score in 210 minutes of a play-off round tie they were odds-on favourites to win.
Celtic now miss out on a £40million place in the league phase of the tournament and drop into the Europa League.
The result will increase the anger among the club’s supporters over the failure to strengthen Rodgers’ squad this summer.
After leading Celtic to the knockout phase play-offs last season where they lost narrowly to Bayern Munich, manager Rodgers expressed his frustration at not being able to build on that progress.
‘I always think that investment is great, but investment in whatever you’re doing has to be at the right time,’ he said. ‘At this moment in time, it’s a little bit raw.
Brendan Rodgers rued Celtic’s failure to build on last season’s Euro progress
Luke McCowan was one of three Celtic players to miss during the penalty shootout
The Kairat players enjoyed their surprise play-off success over Scottish champions Celtic
‘We showed last year the strides I felt we took, but you have to build on that. The last thing you want to do in football is manufacture your own stress, but all we can do now is look at where we’re at as a football club and decide where we want to go.
‘It’s very frustrating. We showed a glimpse of what we can do at this level last season but we haven’t been able to show that over the course of these two games.
‘It’s bitterly disappointing because we were on the right track last season, working very well and playing good football.
‘So to not be in there this season is a huge blow for us. We all know the consequences if we don’t win the tie. We wanted to be in the Champions League.
‘We aren’t but the Europa League is still a prestigious tournament. But we have missed a massive opportunity over these two games.’
Celtic’s lack of a cutting edge through the tie continued into last night’s penalty shoot-out where Adam Idah, Luke McCowan and Daizen Maeda all had their kicks saved by Kairat goalkeeper Timerlan Anarbekov.
‘It was a poor game,’ added Rodgers. ‘The pitch made it awful. We were defensively okay but just couldn’t quite make the breakthrough.
‘We had good chances, especially in the second half and in extra time. We had opportunities to win it and couldn’t quite do it. When it goes to penalties, anything can happen. So we are very disappointed.
Celtic’s players just didn’t do enough across the two legs to see off their opponents
‘There was plenty of endeavour there. The players worked very hard but over the two legs we are disappointed not to have scored.
‘To be fair, the keeper made some really good saves and he’s the hero for them in the penalty shoot-out.
‘We just have to reflect on opportunities we had and didn’t quite take. We have to settle now for the Europa League.’
Celtic captain Callum McGregor insists everyone connected with the club must accept the inevitable fall-out from their elimination but is determined the players will recover in time for Sunday’s first Old Firm showdown of the season at Ibrox.
‘We all have to take responsibility,’ said McGregor. ‘That’s one thing at Celtic, we never pass the blame or put it on any individual at all.
‘We know externally what the noise will be and we have to stick together. We can still go on and have a good season. But we have to learn from that as well.
‘It’s a collective. We have to shake this off. There is another massive game at the weekend.
‘Of course we wanted to get into the Champions League but we need to get over this disappointment really quickly.
‘We’ve had three good years of Champions League football and grown so much as a team. We now have to park that.
‘We have to suck it up and get over the disappointment. We have to bounce back quickly.’
