Celtic's hopes of Europa League progress are all but over after a 4-1 thrashing at home by Stuttgart in their knockout play-off first leg.

Martin O'Neill's side now have a monumental task to turn this tie around in Germany next week and progress to the competition's last-16. But while their Europa League hopes were crushed on the pitch, Thursday also saw fractures around the club glaringly exposed.

The game was halted just seconds after the first whistle as Celtic fans threw tennis balls onto the pitch in protest at the club's board. By the second half, they were booing their own goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel. At the end, only a few were left to vent their frustrations.

Tiago Tomas' injury-time fourth looks to have all-but ended this tie as a contest but, throughout, Celtic were second best.

Schmeichel should have done better with El Khannous' first strike, having kicked off a serious of errors from Celtic with a poor pass out from the back. He then failed to keep out a similar low drive from the edge of the box from Jamie Leweling for Stuttgart's third.

Celtic's wait for a knockoout win in Europe goes on

The last...