Even amid the deafening din created by a capacity crowd in the Central Stadium in Almaty, the Celtic directors would have heard the sound of both trouble and fury brewing, coming to a fierce boil. Perhaps the alarm bells sounded over the last few weeks also still echoed in their ears.
On Tuesday night, a summer of glaringly inadequate player recruitment by a cash-rich club was punished in humiliating fashion as Brendan Rodgers’ undercooked squad were knocked out of the Champions League.
It was well after midnight in Kazakhstan when Kairat’s 21-year-old rookie goalkeeper Timerlan Anarbekov made his third save of the penalty shoot-out to send his club into Thursday’s league phase draw in Monaco.
For those in charge of the Scottish champions, football’s equivalent of the doomsday clock also struck a fateful hour. The angry protests of the Celtic support which greeted the 0-0 draw in the first leg in Glasgow last week may now turn into full scale revolt.
For Rodgers, it must feel all too similar to his first stint in charge when his frustrations at a perceived lack of ambition in the boardroom saw him oversee a similarly costly Champions League play-off defeat against AEK Athens before his abrupt departure to Leicester City.
He has insisted there will be no early exit at his behest this time around before his current three-year contract expires next summer.
Daizen Maeda missed a chance to win it in normal time and then missed in the shooutout as well to cap a miserable night
There will be no Champions League run for Brendan Rodgers in what could be his final season at the Parkhead club
Adam Idah came on as a sub but missed the first spot-kick in the shootout
Yet the disconnect between Rodgers’ aspirations as one of the most respected coaches in the game and the transfer policy of owner Dermot Desmond now appears irrevocably wide.
Celtic expect to complete the signings of Uruguayan left-back Marcelo Saracchi and Belgian winger Michael Ange Balikwisha and Marcelo Saracchi in the coming days. It’s very much a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.
A £40million windfall slipped away from Celtic who failed to score in 210 minutes of abject football against limited but spirited opposition. The regression from last season, when Rodgers and his players ran Bayern Munich so close in the knockout phase play-offs of the tournament, has been spectacular.
On this evidence, Celtic may struggle to make a telling impact in the Europa League which they drop into.
Rodgers had lamented his team’s unusually passive start to the tie last Wednesday, observing that they had ‘wasted’ the first half of the first leg.
His desire to see a far more purposeful opening in Almaty was unfulfilled. Celtic’s lack of urgency in possession was matched by the low grade quality of play in a soporific opening 45 minutes.
It was grim, grinding fare with only James Forrest’s header from a Reo Hatate cross, superbly touched over by Kairat goalkeeper Anarbekov, posing any threat to the well organised home defence.
Kasper Schmeichel couldn’t do much about Kairat’s spot-kicks much to his dismay
While the humid conditions were certainly a factor, Rodgers had been unequivocal in his pre–match media conference that there would be no excuses for Celtic.
There was no mitigation for their carelessness on the ball at times. South Korean winger Hyun-jun Yang, whose very presence in the starting line-up was a symptom of Celtic’s failure to strengthen the wide areas of their squad, was notably culpable.
Callum McGregor, the man who so often sets the tempo on the big occasion for Celtic, continually found himself looking up from the middle of the pitch with no inviting options ahead of him.
McGregor claimed a penalty for handball in first half stoppage time when his shot from just outside the box was blocked by Yegor Sorokin but both the well positioned Italian referee Maurizio Mariani and the VAR team saw nothing amiss.
At least McGregor had posted a rare attempt on target but there was no doubt Kairat head coach Rafael Urazbakhtin had far more reason to be satisfied than Rodgers when the half-time whistle blew.
The Kazakh champions had offered little in the way of attacking threat themselves but it was clear they were content to bide their time and keep the tie in the balance as long as possible.
There was already enough jeopardy for Celtic without putting themselves in trouble needlessly as they did early in the second half.
McGregor’s lofted back pass forced the back-pedalling Kasper Schmeichel to punch the ball away under his own crossbar and concede an indirect free-kick on the edge of the six yard box.
Kairat worked the ball to Jorginho whose rising shot was blocked by Daizen Maeda. The hosts were convinced it was handball by the Japanese forward but a VAR check ruled his arms were in a natural position.
Illustrations of Celtic’s recruitment issues continued to present themselves. Who can say the combined £20m spent on Arne Engels and Adam Idah last summer has been vindicated?
The Celtic players will now have a Europa League campaign to contend with this season
Neither made the starting line-up, finally entering the fray in the 70th minute as Rodgers’ sought an injection of inspiration and a telling shift in momentum.
When Kieran Tierney, still not fit enough to complete a 90 minutes, had to go off, it was Liam Scales who had to shuffle over to fill in at left-back.
Maeda should have spared everyone the ordeal of extra-time when in a rare moment of incision he was sent racing clear by McGregor’s through ball. It was the type of chance the forward converted with regularity last season but, in keeping with the general fecklessness of Celtic’s play, he scooped his shot over.
Extra-time was dominated by Celtic with Kairat having settled for a shoot-out from a long way out. Benjamin Nygren had the best opportunity to prevent that scenario but his 113th minute shot was well saved by Anarbekov.
The penalties simply summed up Celtic’s wretched night. Their first two efforts from Idah and Luke McCowan were both saved with only Valery Gromyko’s ill-advised ‘Panenka’ effort against the bar keeping them in contention.
Engels and McGregor both scored, as did Alyaksandr Martynovich, Ofri Arad and Sorokin for Kairat. Maeda had to do the same but was denied by the inspired Anarbekov to spark wild celebrations in Almaty and what will be a furious inquest in the east end of Glasgow.