Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers admitted it was a “huge blow” to miss out on a fourth consecutive Champions League campaign after a shootout defeat by Kairat Almaty.
The Scottish champions reached the knockout phase last season but could not score over 210 minutes of their play-off and lost 3-2 on penalties in Kazakhstan after Adam Idah, Luke McCowan and Daizen Maeda all saw their efforts saved by the home goalkeeper.
Rodgers told Amazon Prime: “It’s very frustrating. We showed a glimpse of what we can do at this level but we haven’t been able to show that over the course of these two games.
“It’s bitterly disappointing, because we were on the right track last season and working really well and playing really good football, so to not be in there this season is a huge blow for us. We missed a massive opportunity over these two games
Maeda blazed over from a glorious chance in the 86th minute before Celtic were denied on a series of occasions as they finally began to dominate in extra-time.
Rodgers said: “I thought overall it was a poor game. The pitch made it awful. We were defensively OK but couldn’t quite make the breakthrough. We had good chances, especially in the second half and extra-time, and when it goes to penalties anything can happen.
“We just have to reflect on opportunities that we didn’t take and we have to settle for the Europa League.”
