Celtic-daft Alan Brazil endured a sleepless night after watching his team crash out of the Champions League.
The talkSPORT host was left stunned as Martin O’Neill’s side lost 5-1 to LASK in Austria, going down 5-4 on aggregate despite taking a commanding 3-0 first-leg advantage into the return.
Callum McGregor’s early strike appeared to put Celtic completely out of sight — only for the Austrian side to launch an astonishing comeback and force extra time.
Samuel Adeniran’s 109th-minute winner sealed Celtic’s Champions League exit and condemned them to Europa League football for a second successive season.
Brazil, a lifelong Celtic supporter, was so wound up by the capitulation that he could not sleep before his Sports Breakfast shift — eventually setting off from Ipswich for London late at night before being delayed by a road closure.
Ally McCoist was left to begin the show alone and could not resist a dig at his absent co-host, asking whether Brazil was late following "Celtic’s embarrassment".
When Brazil finally arrived, he offered a blunt assessment of his mood, replying: "Murder."
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The former Manchester United striker said: "I’m not depressed, I’m not depressed, I cannot sleep. I was in Ipswich, at 11 o’clock [pm] I thought, 'This is ridiculous.' I went to bed at 7 [pm], could not sleep.
"I’ve got this... it’s a long story... sciatica as well I’ve got... and then at 11 o’clock I said, 'Right, I’m going.'"
Brazil admitted he thought Celtic had wrapped up the tie when McGregor scored in the 23rd minute, extending their overall lead to four goals. He added, "I said after the first game it’s not over, but then when Celtic scored, I thought, 'Well that’s it surely.'
"Unbelievable, it’s unbelievable. The punters were going crazy at the board again — terrible. When McGregor scores, you think, 'Well, that’s it, just lock up, keep the ball, slow it down.'"
Brazil believes the scale of the collapse — and the financial consequences of missing out on the Champions League — means it could rank among Celtic’s most damaging European defeats.
"In the importance of the game and the money side of it, probably the worst, I would suggest," he said. "When McGregor scores an away goal, you think, 'OK, done, it’s going to be backs against the wall, but it should be enough.' Shocking.
"I don’t want to be too harsh on players, because it’s early on in the season, but you’ve got to look at some of the characters and say, 'Hold on a minute, do you want to play Champions League football? Do you want it that much?'"
