“It feels like one of the worst moments in my life,” Benjamin Nygren | OneFootball

Benjamin Nygren has described Celtic’s Champions League exit as one of the worst moments of his life as he reflects on his side’s calamitous performance in Almaty on Tuesday…

Celtic line up Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock

For Celtic, it was not merely a poor evening – it was as bad as it gets in the club’s 63-year European history. Celtic are now consigned to Europa League football this season and will face Roma, Feyenoord, Braga, Crvena Zvezda, Sturm Graz, Midtylland, Utrecht and Bologna in the League phase.

It is the first time in four seasons Celtic will compete in Europe’s second tier club competition, but Brendan Rodgers’ men should be aiming for a top eight finish at the very least.

For Nygren, his hopes of playing in the Champions League during this campaign came to a crushing end and he has since reflected on Celtic’s embarrassing defeat.

Benjamin Nygren of Celtic Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock

Speaking via Daily Record, he said: “Was it a hard one to take? Yeah. I don’t know what to say. It feels like one of the worst moments in my life. It was one of my biggest dreams to go to the Champions League. I’ve had it as a dream for so long and haven’t been as close. Now that dream has fallen apart.

“It was a good draw but we knew we had to produce two good performances to get through. No one that gets this far to the play-offs is a bad team. Of course it was a better draw than you would normally get. But we didn’t manage to put in two good performances – so we didn’t deserve to go through. It was one of the toughest nights of my career. I don’t know what to say, I’m so disappointed.”

Benjamin Nygren of Celtic Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan. Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock

The 23 year-old added: “It feels really bad now. But we cannot think about this too much for too long. It will still hurt today and tomorrow but then we need to get our heads up and fully focused to win on Sunday.

“I told Callum McGregor the other week I haven’t been in a squad with such a good group of people. For sure we will get our heads up and stick together as a team.  It is maybe the best game from some perspective. No matter who we were playing, we would be ready. But in a derby we will definitely be ready to put in a performance.”

The Celtic players certainly owe the supporters in the photographs below a result tomorrow at Ibrox.

Celtic supporters, Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock

Celtic fans in the stands Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock

Conor Spence

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Foreword by Danny McGrain. Published on Celtic Star Books on 5 September 2025. Click on image to pre-order.

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