Manager's reaction after Champions League exit | OneFootball

Celtic’s Champions League aspirations came to an end in Kazakhstan tonight (Tuesday) following a penalty shoot-out defeat to FC Kairat.

After both legs had finished goal-less, the tie was decided with penalties, and it was the Kazakh side who came out on top to progress to the league phase of the UCL. Celtic will now drop into the Europa League.

And speaking to Celtic TV after the match Brendan Rodgers explained that he was bitterly disappointed at the UCL exit.

“We had a really big opportunity in these two games, but if you don’t score the goals, which we haven’t done over the two games, then Kairat, with the greatest respect, are playing for that moment at the end,” the Celtic manager said.

“So congratulations to them. They’re through but, of course, we’re hugely disappointed.

“Over the two games, really disappointed with the first-half of the first game. We wanted to take a lead to here but we didn’t play well enough and show enough quality and the things you need to do to win the game.

“In this game here, the questions that are asked of you – the pitch was very difficult and I think you saw the quality of the football was at a really low level, I felt, but we still had chances and didn’t quite take them, and when you don’t, you run the risk of going to penalties, and sadly for us it’s another tie that we’ve lost on penalties.

“This is bitterly disappointing and however it went tonight, it was always going to be a big game for us at the weekend, so there’s not a lot you can say to the players now. They’re hugely disappointed.

“There was lots of endeavour, lots of honesty in the performance but we just didn’t have that bit of quality to break them down.

“So now we get back tomorrow morning, but we’ll just have to get ourselves ready now because it’s a huge game for us on Sunday.”

Fixtures

Kairat Vs. Celtic - Tue, Aug 26th 2025, 17:45 Match Report