Celtic boss Martin O’Neill has taken full responsibility for the Hoops’ embarrassing Champions League collapse against LASK.

The Bhoys went into the second leg in Austria with a 3-0 lead and then moved four goals ahead on aggregate when Callum McGregor opened the scoring after 21 minutes.

LASK scored five without reply to win 5-1 after extra time and knock Celtic out 5-4 on aggregate.

Speaking after the game, O’Neill admitted Celtic should have had the tie finished before the break.

He said: (Amazon Prime Video), “We should have been out of sight by half-time. We scored a goal, which was great.

“We missed two great, great opportunities and then we gave them a lifeline just before half-time, and then one just after it.

“They came roaring back and obviously we conceded, from our viewpoint, not good goals at all.

“But that’s my team and that’s my responsibility.”

That first LASK goal changed the whole course of the match.

Celtic were still three goals ahead on aggregate at half-time, but Robert Ljubicic scored just three minutes after the restart before Samuel Adeniran made it 3-1 on the night.

From there, Celtic struggled badly to get out of their own half.

O’Neill believed the Hoops had actually managed to survive the worst of the pressure before Florian Flecker scored in the 90th minute to force extra time.

He added: “We can’t get out for 10 minutes and then we seem to have weathered the storm, looked as if we were going to see it through at the end.

“They score with a couple of minutes to go and that takes it to extra time.

“So really, obviously disappointed. Disappointed that we’ve conceded the goals in the manner which we did.

“And again, I’ve just got back to you, it’s my team and I’m responsible for it.”

There will now be major questions asked about Celtic’s squad and the club’s summer transfer business, having sold Arne Engels just days before the first leg.

O’Neill was asked whether the squad has enough depth and whether it is strong enough for this level, but refused to get into that immediately after the game and believes tonight is not the time for those questions.

He said: “We should have been able to have seen it through and we didn’t.

“Talking about the squad, that’s for another day.”

Celtic still have work to do before the transfer window closes, but there is no getting away from the fact that the team on the pitch had a four-goal aggregate lead and failed to see it out.

O’Neill also admitted the defeat ranks among the hardest nights he has experienced as Celtic manager, alongside the UEFA Cup final defeat to Porto in 2003.

Asked whether it was up there with his toughest, he said: “I would say absolutely.

“I put it down before the disappointment of losing the UEFA Cup final in 2003, but tonight it’s so, so disappointing.”

Celtic will now drop into the Europa League, but that will offer very little comfort after coming so close to yet another Champions League campaign.

It looks to be another sign that not having a full squad ready for the qualifiers can end in elimination, something a section of the support has consistently warned the Hoops hierarchy about.

O’Neill said: “I know we’re playing in the Europa League, but that’s a scant consolation this evening.

“We all wanted to try and get through, the whole club.

“There was a feel-good factor about it and it’s become a massive disappointment to us tonight.”

O’Neill and the squad deserve an element of blame for their role on the night, but these issues have undoubtedly been underlying at Celtic for the best part of a decade. It is no coincidence that the Hoops continue to be eliminated in Champions League qualifiers.