The Scotsman Football Show - Celtic fail to reach Champions League - video Dailymotion

Mark Atkinson discusses Celtic failure to reach the Champions League.

Transcript

00:00Good evening from the Scotsman Sports Desk, Mark Atkinson, Sports Senator here. Reflecting

00:08on some big news this evening, Celtic have failed to reach the Champions League losing

00:13to Kairat Almaty on a penalty shootout in the playoff round, a dire defeat for Celtic.

00:21Their manager Brendan Rodgers and their supporters have failed to defeat what were fairly limited

00:29opponents at this level, Kairat Almaty, making sure that Celtic couldn't score in 210 minutes

00:34of largely tertiary football and then delivering the sucker punch putting on penalties. Celtic

00:39of course went over to Kazakhstan, a three and a half thousand mile trip to Almaty, knowing

00:46that there was a bit of a job to do after drawing nil-nil in the first leg at Celtic Park last

00:51week. And while everyone knew it would be a hazardous assignment, I think people thought

00:55that Celtic would have enough to ultimately get through the tie. It didn't transpire like

01:01that at all. You could tell it early on that Celtic were struggling with the conditions in

01:04Kazakhstan against obdurate, well-drilled, but ultimately limited opponents. Celtic didn't

01:10create enough tangible moments in the game, although the big one fell to Dyson Maida just

01:16before the end of the match when he strode it on goal, but he showed no composure at all

01:21and blazed over the bar. A very, very principal chance for the Japanese. They kind of summed

01:26up how Celtic had been there, their fall from grace since the start of the calendar year in

01:30which they could win the league, but of course lost the Scottish Cup and have failed to build on such

01:35promise under Brendan Rodgers. In extra time, Celtic was a better team, but couldn't find a way

01:41through. And in the shootout, there were misses from Adam, Ida, Luke McCowan, and then Maida,

01:47almost fittingly, saw his penalties saved by the Catholic 21-year-old, Luke Riturbanov.

01:53That was the catalyst for jubilant celebrations from the hosts, but despairing looks from the

02:00Celtic players who knew just how big a defeat this is for them. It means the Celtic drop into

02:06the Europa League, they miss out on potentially £40 million of prize money. Of course, Celtic

02:12reached the knockout stages last season in this competition. So this is a real dip in

02:19standards, a step backwards, maybe even two steps backwards. And of course, the inquest

02:23begins on Celtic, not only for manager Brendan Rodgers, who won't escape criticism for what's

02:29happened this evening, but in particular the poor directors who have not backed their manager

02:34well enough. I think that's clear to say. Celtic, sitting on pretty healthy cash reserves,

02:40have only spent around £1.6 million in the current transfer window on first-team players.

02:46And while Michel Ong, brother Lucia, the winger from Antwerp should come in as well as some

02:51others over the last couple of days, some will say that's a little too late for Celtic because

02:55they've not been able to influence this Champions League tie. Manager Brendan Rodgers in his post-match

03:00press conference was clearly emotional, clearly disappointed. Didn't really want to go into the transfer

03:06situation, but they'd say you don't want to manufacture your own stress in football. I think that's

03:09clear to say that's a little message at those who should have potentially opened the checkbook

03:14because Celtic have manufactured their own stress by not bringing in enough quality players

03:19to beat the Champions League. Celtic are essentially a Europa League team now, and if they do want

03:25to improve and have a very good season, they will need to bring in fresh players to make sure

03:30they can challenge on all the fronts they want to. The inquest is going to take days, maybe even weeks

03:35after this, huge result. Celtic are out of the Champions League after losing to Caratomad.