Hungarian champions Ferencvaros triumphed 2-1 at Celtic on Wednesday to knock the Scottish champions out of the top European competition before the group stage has even begun.
The result was the biggest shock in the champions path in the second qualifying round with numerous games played on Wednesday, as Dinamo Zagreb, Young Boys, Midtjylland and Red Star Belgrade, among others, all progressed.
AZ, PAOK and Rapid Vienna also moved into the third qualifying round via the league path, where they’ll now be joined by seeded teams Dynamo Kiev, Benfica and Gent.
However, Celtic’s loss to Ferencvaros was the big story, with the visitors taking a seventh minute lead through David Siger until Ryan Christie levelled early in the second half.
Kenya-born Norwegian winger Tokmac Nguen popped up for the winner for the Hungarians in the 75th minute, sending the Hoops out early, with Lennon fuming.
“I’m devastated, it shouldn’t happen,” Lennon said.
“It’s a poor result. We dominated the game but we conceded two really poor goals.We all have to take responsibility for it, certainly I do for the team selection.
“We had more than enough chances to win the game twice over. It was really poor.”
Lennon’s disappointment didn’t end there, hitting out at unnamed players among his squad who want to leave for their lack of commitment.
“The players have to be better, get your attitude right, get your mentality right,” he said.
“Some of you don’t want to be here? Leave. I just want the players who want to be here.”
He added: “There are some players who may want to leave and have made inroads into that over the last six months or so. If they don’t want to be here, we have to do something about it.
“If they are making waves to leave the club they are obviously not committed. I’m putting it out there because it has been bugging me for a long time.”