Some will try to shrug it off as another unlucky European away tie, coming up against a team on top of their form and losing 3-1 is no disgrace.
They can debate about whether it was a penalty and if James Forrest deserved to be sent off.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of Salzburg’s third goal Celtic were well beaten and outplayed for most of the match, if they had fancied it the Australian champions could have scored another goal.
Maybe for 25 minutes in the first half Celtic looked composed and assured in their defending but that is the glass half full view.
Very few of the players on show look likely to be involved in another Champions League group phase. Major surgery is required if the club is to boast with justification that they are a Champions League club.
Sure Brendan Rodgers turned the lost bhoys under Ronny Deila into a Champions League outfit but those occurrences are rare.
Five months on from a double treble the Celtic team looks jaded. More worryingly the management look tired and lacking motivation and enthusiasm.
Rodgers’ honest assessment after the match was alarming.
After five transfer windows in European terms we look barely any better than we did before the Irishman arrived.
Whatever went on, or didn’t go on during the transfer window is now history. The manager has to work with the players that he has- as he did in 2016 with the additions of Scott Sinclair and Moussa Dembele.
A year ago the future looked promising after a 3-0 win in Anderlecht, this morning things look decidedly grim. Last night’s team didn’t contain a single worthwhile addition to the team that won in Brussels.
Something major is required to happen or there will be more Salzburg nights, and also domestic days like the recent matches at Hearts, St Mirren and Kilmarnock.
The club is sliding backwards, momentum has gone into reverse.
Getting the better of the domestic fare and going head to head with the Red Bull family isn’t asking the earth- this weekend even the most optimistic Celtic fan isn’t looking forward to the weeks ahead.
