Lyon 3 Celtic 2
A penalty four minutes from time saw Celtic's Champions League campaign end in agonising fashion in Lyon tonight.
Martin O'Neill's side had twice battled back from a goal down and were on course for the last 16 until Bobo Balde inexplicably raised his hand in an aerial challenge with Sydney Govou.
The ball brushed off his arm and Lyon midfielder Juninho netted from the spot to give his side a 3-2 win.
Earlier, goals from first John Hartson and then Chris Sutton had brought Celtic level despite the Scottish side being outplayed for much of the game.
They went behind on six minutes when Juninho's free kick came back off the bar and Giovane Elber headed home into an unguarded net.
But Hartson levelled before the break after Henrik Larsson's shot had been parried by French keeper Gregory Coupet.
After the interval, Lyon regained the lead when Celtic keeper Magnus Hedman was stunned by livewire Juninho's 35-yard effort which swerved and caught him wrong-footed.
Celtic were fortunate not to fall further behind, but they made the most of their good luck when Sutton levelled against the run of play after Momo Sylla had forced Berthod into a mistake and deflected the ball into his team-mate's path.
That looked to have given Celtic their place in the knockout phase but then came the late drama.
A small piece of consolation for Celtic was that Bayern Munich's win over Anderlecht meant they finished third in the group and therefore drop into the UEFA Cup in the new year.