Celtic have been knocked out of the Champions League after slipping to a 2-1 defeat to AEK Athens on Tuesday night, losing the third-round qualifying tie 3-2 on aggregate.

Celtic fell behind inside six minutes when Rodrigo Galo strode into the box and side-footed Niklas Hult’s cut-back beyond Craig Gordon.

The opener changed little, but a bigger thorn in their side was a second from Marko Livaja after half-time, when the Croatian nodded in Vasilios Lampropoulos’ flick-on from a free-kick five minutes into the second half.

Substitute Scott Sinclair’s header, his first touch, gave Celtic hope with 12 minutes to go, but they only once threatened an equaliser, when defender Jozo Simunovic’s back-heel flashed wide in the fifth minute of added time.

As a result, Celtic drop into the Europa League, where they will face Lithuanian outfit Suduva or Spartaks Jurmala of Latvia in the qualifying play-off round./FLASHSPORT24