Gordon Strachan made a disastrous start as Celtic manager tonight after watching his new-look side slump to a humiliating 5-0 Champions League drubbing to Artmedia Bratislava and arguably the worst European night in their history in the Tehelne Polie Stadium.
The Scot watched in horror as Juraj Halenar scored a stunning hat-trick. Blazej Vascak and Martin Mikulic grabbed the other goals.
The demoralised Hoops now need to stage a miraculous comeback at Celtic Park next week.
Strachan's men were already in shock having had Chris Sutton stretchered off with a suspected fractured cheekbone after a collision with skipper Neil Lennon.
Artmedia illustrated what a threat they were by coming back from two goals down to beat Kazhakstan side Almaty in the last round but the loss of Sutton was an early blow.
Artmedia gave Celtic a warning in the 14th minute when skipper Balazs Borbely made space for himself on the edge of the box before blasting his left-foot shot well wide.
Sutton, who started in midfield, hurt himself trying to make the block. The way in which captain Lennon waved on the physio straight away suggested his teammate had suffered a bad injury and he left the pitch on a stretcher.
Strachan responded by bringing on winger Aiden McGeady before Stilian Petrov made a crucial block from Branislav Fodrek's low drive.
Balde's incompetence almost conspired to put his side behind in the 23rd minute when he allowed Juraj Halenar to get behind him and take Daniel Tchur's chip into his path.
But, with glory and Marshall in his sights, the Artmedia striker slashed wildly at the ball with his right foot and sent it hurtling well wide.
Majiec Zurawski could have made himself an instant hero with the Celtic supporters in the 28th minute when he was presented with a free-kick just outside the area after Hartson had been fouled by Borbely but his dipping effort was comfortably saved by Juraj Cobej.
Recent signing Paul Telfer then found himself in an unaccustomed attacking position but he struck his right-foot shot straight at a relieved Artmedia goalkeeper.
Marshall was also tested in the 38th minute when Tchur cut inside before sending a low right-foot shot towards the bottom corner from 25 yards which needed the Celtic keeper to throw himself to his left to keep the ball out.
But Marshall could do nothing to stop Celtic falling behind just two minutes before the interval.
Jan Kozak threaded the ball through to Blazej Vascak and he unselfishly squared the ball to Halenar to slot the ball into the empty net from close range.
It could have got even worse for the Glasgow giants almost immediately but Marshall scooped out Jan Durica's close-range header.
The Celtic defence looked as though they could be sliced open at will with Slovakia defender Stanislav Varga not having the best of homecomings.
And it went from bad to worse in the 57th minute when the Celtic defence got taken apart again before Halenar got behind the defence and squared the ball for Vascak to score.
Strachan responded by bringing on Shaun Maloney for Zurawski and then Aliadiere for Thompson after Balde had been booked.
Maloney had two chances to pull Celtic back into the game but both times hefound goalkeeper Cobej too big an obstacle.
McGeady then missed an incredible open goal in the 67th minute when Maloney fired the ball low across the face of goal but his team-mate put the ball over from under the bar to pile more embarrassment on the visitors.
Celtic would have found themselves even further behind in the 72nd minute had Kozak not deliberated too long before trying to pick out either of his two supporting teammates.
The Hoops, however, were rocked again just three minutes later when a corner broke to Halenar and he thundered a long-range volley past the despairing hand
of Marshall.
Celtic's heads were down and substitute Martin Mikulic fired a fourth before Halenar rubbed salt into the wounds by completing a last-minute hat-trick to rip the heart out of the visitors.
