Nightmare.

Celtic 0-1 Maribor (agg. 1-2)
Celtic Park 26/8/14
Uefa Champions League Play-Off 2nd leg

Celtic bowed out of the Champions league last night at the hands of Slovenian minnows Maribor, before their European journey had even begun. Having been handed another chance at Champions League football after the well documented administrative mistake by Legia Warsaw in the previous qualifying round, The Bhoys squandered the opportunity in front of over 58,000 fans at Celtic Park.

Celtic started the game nervously, with Efe Ambrose and Charlie Mulgrew making numerous mistakes early doors. Norwegian loanee Jo Inge Berget was also disappointingly ineffective ofn the left side of the attacking three.

Mid-way through the half, Celtic won a corner with Virgil van Dijk heading narrowly wide from the resulting delivery.

A few minutes later, some very slack defending by Efe Ambrose allowed Maribor’s Viler to unleash a vicious strike on Craig Gordon. Gordon reacted well to parry the effort and smother the rebound at the feet of Tavares.

The half time whistle was met with frustrated boos by thousands Celtic supporters, who felt the first half performance was a long way off ‘acceptable’ for a European night at Parkhead.

Despite Mulgrew, Ambrose and Berget performing woefully in the first half, Deila made a strange half time substitution, bringing on Kris Commons at the expense of Beram Kayal, who had performed well in the heart of midfield.

Celtic started the second half as the fans would have wished, having 4 shots on goal in the opening 10 minutes (compared to a total of 3 in the first 45 minutes). On 56 minutes, Stokes cleverly manufactured an opportunity for Callum McGregor whose effort smashed agonisingly off the crossbar.

On 65 minutes, a totally incompetent and out-of-his-depth Berget was eventually replaced by Adam Matthews. A few minutes later, Lustig limped off to be replaced by Derk Boerrigter.

On 74 minutes, Celtic broke away on the attack with Stokes sliding in Commons who couldn’t hit the target with his dragged right footed effort.

Maribor then broke away on the counter. A dangerous inswinging cross from the left was headed away by Izaguirre, but only to Maribor talisman Tavares. Ambrose couldn’t close down the strike quick enough, which looped agonisingly over the outstretched Gordon. 1-0 Maribor.

On 80 minutes, Ambrose headed inches wide from a Stokes free kick.

Celtic desperately tried to manufacture an opportunity in the dying minutes of the game, with Virgil Van Dijk joining Anthony Stokes at the spearhead of Celtic’s attack.

Celtic’s best chance of the game then fell to the Dutch centre half. From five yards out and the whole right and side of the goal at his mercy, Van Dijk chested the ball down and struck the volley straight at the keeper. The easy stop was met by excruciating groans from the Celtic supporters. As the ref blew the whistle, the Celtic players fell to the floor in disbelief while the Maribor players celebrated the club’s second appearance in the Champions League proper in its existence.

Despite this defeat, it is important to remember the starts both Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon had in Europe as managers of Celtic. It’s a difficult one to take that Celtic will not be among Europe’s elite this season. However, Europa League experience will do the players a world of good. Ronny Deila deserves our support as he attempts to put his stamp on the playing squad. Any disdain and anger the supporters feel after this result should be aimed at the board in my opinion, and not at our new manager.

Celtic XI:
Gordon; Ambrose, Lustig (Boerrigter), Van Dijk, Izaguirre; Mulgrew, Kayal (Commons), Johansen; Berget (Matthews), Stokes, McGregor

Celtic man of the match: Callum McGregor​