Celtic discovered the unnerving truth which Rangers had confronted in previous seasons when they were comprehensively beaten by an exceptional Zagreb team in this second-round second leg.
It is that the Scottish champions, whatever the colour of their jerseys, remain out of their depth whenever they meet opposition of genuine class. Defending a 1-0 lead from the first leg, Celtic lost this one the moment Silvio Maric delivered the first of Croatia's goals midway through the first half.
It would be easy to accuse Celtic of a lack of ambition and an overemphasis on defence but, in truth, they were forced back into their shell by a side that swarmed over them from the opening minute.
Even before Maric scored that first goal and Robert Prosinecki converted his penalty close to the interval, there had seemed an inevitability about the rippling of Jonathan Gould's net. It could have come much earlier than the 22nd minute.
The prime mover was the stocky Prosinecki, who is said to have trouble in motoring up and down the field nowadays. With team-mates such as Josko Jelicic, Tomislav Rukavina and Krunoslav Jurcic in support, the great man has no need to tax his legs unduly. Some of Prosinecki's service to colleagues left the home support in little doubt that a breakthrough would come.
Everyone in the stadium was convinced it had happened in the 13th minute, when Mario Cvitanovic streaked off on the kind of run that tortures backtracking defenders. When the Celtic players moved towards him, he simply left Marko Viduka in the clear.
With only Gould to beat, he managed that with a low right-foot shot. But the ball struck the foot of the right-hand post and bounced back into play. It was a bad miss.
With Celtic unable to make any impact in midfield or forward areas the Croatians scored the goals they deserved. The first began with Prosinecki's free-kick on the left, the ball played square to Jurcic. It was then shuttled forward to Maric, who had missed the most glaring chance of all in the first leg when he drove the ball wide from eight yards.
This time he teased Tom Boyd and Marc Rieper before drilling a shot from 20 yards low to the right of Gould.
Boyd compounded his sins with the foolish foul on Maric just inside the area which allowed Prosinecki to beat Gould low to the right.
Celtic's mild flurry of resistance early in the second half caused Drazen Ladic, the Croatian goalkeeper, to do some unaccustomed work, but it was not strong enough to alter the impression that they were confronting greatly superior opponents.
The Celtic goalkeeper had to block at the feet of Viduka after the striker had combined with the ubiquitous Prosinecki.
Maric was lax in the finish, pulling the ball wide when clear inside the area before, ironically, Prosinecki enjoyed a little luck with the third goal in the 69th minute. The midfielder shuffled around the 18-yard line looking for space with the ball at his feet before trying a shot. The ball took a cruel deflection away to the left of the unfortunate Gould.
By then, the Celtic coach Jozef Venglos had introduced Harald Brattbakk to the attack in place of Blinker, but there was, at that stage, no hope left.
Celtic head coach Jozef Venglos last night admitted he may yet intervene to help resolve the bonuses dispute among his players which has left the club divided.
The build-up to last night's tie was dominated by the Celtic players' grievances but Venglos was quick to stress that the quality shown by Zagreb was the overriding factor in the heavy loss and claimed the financial wrangles had no real impact.
But the 62-year-old Slovakian, who until now has preferred to respect his players' rights, last night conceded he is tempted to mediate before his side launch their consolation UEFA Cup campaign.
When asked when he would act, Venglos said: "I am the coach and I am taking the responsibility and I am part of this situation. The only way though that we could have won tonight was if everyone in the team was on top form and that was not the case. Overall Croatia were the better team.
"The game was a difficult one because the opposition clearly played very well and we have to respect that, but I felt it is still the case that my supportive approach to the players beforehand was the right one."
Croatia Zagreb: Ladic, Tokic, Maric (Saric 84), Juric, Prosinecki, Viduka (Sokota 73), Rukavina, Simic, Cvitanovic, Jelicic, Jurcic (Mujcin 60). Subs Not Used: Maldinic, Savic, Butina, Mikic. Booked: Jurcic, Juric, Maric. Goals: Maric 23, Prosinecki 44 pen, 68.
Celtic: Gould, Boyd, Mahe, McNamara, Rieper, Stubbs, Larsson, Burley, Lambert, Jackson (Donnelly 76), Blinker (Brattbakk 63). Subs Not Used: Hannah, Annoni, McKinlay, Burchill, Kerr. Booked: Larsson. Referee: P Collina (Italy).
