CELTIC paid the penalty.
For failing to turn up over two play-off legs against a bang average team from Kazakhstan.
SNSArne Engels and Daizen Maeda left dejected at full-time[/caption]
Shutterstock EditorialBenjamin Nygren is gutted after missing chance[/caption]
SNSBrendan Rodgers endured a horror night in Almaty[/caption]
For the lack of summer investment.
It ended in tears after a shootout defeat to Kairat Almaty.
But ultimately the champions of Scotland reaped what they sowed.
Their performance in the transfer market points fingers at the board with supporters furious with the lack of investment.
Yet the dire display of the team out on the park didn’t do nearly enough to win through.
The aim was Champions League but what they served up was Sunday league.
Daizen Maeda missed the last kick of the shootout after Adam Idah and Luke McCowan had their efforts saved by the rookie home team keeper.
How the Japanese striker must wish he could have turned the clock back to his one-on-one chance with four minutes remaining of normal time.
Maeda probably had too much time think about it.
But it’ll prey on the minds of everyone associated with the club even longer.
It was just a night of dreadful disappointment for Celtic who should have had more than enough to win through to the £40million league phase.
Before kick-off, Rodgers literally went out his way to salute the Celtic fans.
He made the long walk around the pitch to reach the 300-strong away support behind the goals.
Standing in front of them on the running track, he got a thunderous response as he waved and applauded their efforts in making the 8500 mile round trip from Scotland.
By time up, those punters were up in arms again. But in a different way.
Many of them would have questioned the line-up before a ball was kicked.
Few would have been upset to see Idah benched – with Maeda up top – given how poor the £9million striker was in last week’s first-leg.
Hooked at half-time, Rodgers talked about how he couldn’t afford to wait for Idah to perform.
But the decision to play Benjamin Nygren in the middle of the park maybe raised eyebrows given the Swede’s two-goal, man of the match performance on the right against Livi at the weekend.
Rodgers must have swayed with the idea of keeping Nygren in that role – or even on the left instead of Yang Hyun-Jun – and playing Arne Engels centrally.
The £11million Belgian made a big impact when he was thrown on in the second-half but he still couldn’t turn it.
What Rodgers couldn’t legislate for was how nervy and anxious his players were.
The nervousness in the team was clear as day.
When international players like Kieran Tierney are giving the ball away left, right and centre there’s not very much the manager can do about it.
KT wasn’t helped by Yang ahead of him who was continually eased off the ball.
It was just a hard, hard watch for Celtic fans.
James Forrest had a decent chance with a header in the first half which was tipped over the crossbar by Kairat’s stand-in goalkeeper Temirlan Anarbekov.
But Rodgers’ side didn’t test the 21-year-old like they should have done.
It wasn’t like the Kazakh champions were a major threat themselves.
Being without their three best players in No1 Alexander Zarutsky, Brazilian striker Edmilson and £4million Chelsea bound teenager Dastan Satpayev was a major blow to them.
When they attacked the 23,000 home fans were upon their seats and urging their heroes on.
But the intensity of the atmosphere they created wasn’t matched by any real quality in their line-up.
That’s what made Celtic’s performance all the more galling.
Celtic got away with one in 51 minutes when Callum McGregor inexplicably bounced a pass-back to Kasper Schmeichel at head height.
The big Dane decided it was too risky to attempt to jump and head the ball off his line.
Instead, he reached up and punched it.
It gave Kairat a brilliant chance to score from a free-kick 10 yards out, in the middle of the goal, but the shot from Jorginho was blocked by Maeda as he charged it down.
It was more unnecessary pressure Celtic had brought on themselves.
Rodgers changed it for the final 20 minutes of normal time with Idah and Engels replacing Yang and Forrest and the pair brought some much needed improvement.
The home side looked physically shattered in the closing stages of normal time.
The Maeda chance came with just four minutes left to play.
Running clear through on the goalkeeper, he just had to hit the target.
But like his late miss in the first-leg – and wasted chances against Rangers and Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final last season – there was no conviction or composure when it was needed.
As Maeda’s shot was blasted high over the bar it felt like Celtic’s hopes disappeared with it.
Celtic ended up with youngster Colby Donovan on the park at right-back for extra-time and the kid was almost the hero when he set up Nygren with a great chance. But the midfielder’s shot was saved.
In the shootout the first three penalties were all missed.
In between Idah and McCowan’s saved kicks, an incredible dinked effort from Valeri Gromyko hit the crossbar.
Alexsandr Martynovich then scored with Engels netting his.
Next up Ofri Arad held his nerve to beat Schmeichel.
Callum McGregor was nerveless when he was next before Egor Sorokin heaped all the pressure on Maeda.
You just knew he wasn’t going to score. And he didn’t.
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