Celtic Suffer Third Straight Europa League Defeat as Celta Vigo Win 2-1 at Parkhead
Celtic suffered a third straight Europa League defeat as Celta Vigo came from behind to win 2-1 at Celtic Park on Thursday, October 22, in matchday 3 of the league phase. Javi Rodríguez scored twice in three minutes after Mika Baur had given the hosts the lead.
Celtic arrived in the match with their hopes of reaching the next phase already under pressure. They had lost to Ferencváros and then to Benfica, 4-1 at home, in their first two league-phase games. Against Celta, they put in a much improved performance compared with the defeat to Benfica a week earlier, and the visitors, who were neat and tidy without really testing Celtic goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, were not threatening for long periods.
The home side made the breakthrough shortly after the interval. Mika Baur scored for Celtic in the 47th minute to make it 1-0. Liam Scales had also hit the crossbar for the hosts, who were pushing for a second goal. Celta, though, hit back with a quick double.
Rodríguez equalised in the 68th minute, and just three minutes later, in the 71st minute, he scored again. The second goal was a powerful strike from outside the box, and it put the visitors 2-1 ahead.
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill reacted with a series of changes. He brought on Kasper Høgh for Haissem Hassan, and there were two more substitutions soon after. Baur and Camilo Durán came off, and Oliver Sørensen and Sebastian Tounekti replaced them. With just under 10 minutes left, young defender Colby Donovan got a shot on target from inside the box, but he did not make the contact that he had hoped for, and the Celta goalkeeper made the save.
Celta held on to their 2-1 lead to the final whistle and took all three points. Celtic have now lost all three of their league-phase games, and their hopes of qualification from the league phase are seriously damaged.
Celtic's next match is a Scottish Premiership trip to Hibernian on Sunday, with a 12pm kick-off.