UEFA Europa LeagueThursday, October 22, 2026Celtic Park
CELTIC…1(Baur 47)
CELTA VIGO…2(Rodriguez 68 & 71)
Celtic were defeated 2-1 by Celta Vigo at Celtic Park this evening, with the La Liga side coming from a goal behind to take all three points.
The visitors enjoyed most of the possession and produced a few good moments in the opening 15 minutes of the match, and on a couple of occasions Celtic players had to put their bodies in the way of shots which looked to be heading goalward.
The Hoops had to be patient for their first chance of the night, which arrived just before the 20-minute mark when Haissem Hassan sent a dangerous cross in to the box which was met by Camilo Durán, but the Colombian’s header was saved by the keeper.
That chance lifted the Celtic players and the support. In the minutes that followed, Martin O’Neill’s men were the team on the front foot and there looked to be a chance on for Callum Osmand, but a two-handed push in to his back on the edge of the box from a Celta player brought an end to the attack.
There was outrage inside Celtic Park at the referee’s decision not to award a foul for the push on Osmand and instead book Camilo Durán for protesting the decision.
As half time approached, Celtic found themselves with a good chance after Mika Baur threaded a brilliant pass through for Camilo Durán to latch on to. Celta were swift in shutting down the chance for Durán, but the ball broke to Callum Osmand just outside the area. His curling effort, however, drifted just over the bar.
Just before the half-time whistle, Sam Johnstone made a good save to deny Ferran Jutglà, who had fired a decent shot towards goal from just inside the box.
The second half started brilliantly for Celtic when, just a few minutes after the restart, Mika Baur picked up on a loose ball in the middle of the pitch and sent Haissem Hassan on his way down the right wing.
Hassan used his pace to pull away from the pursuing Celta Vigo defender and sent a ball in to the box which was cleared only as far as Mika Baur, who sent a powerful effort in to the bottom corner to make it 1-0 to Celtic.
Celtic’s first change of the night came just shy of the hour mark when Callum Osmand was replaced by James Forrest after the English youngster went down in some discomfort.
Liam Scales went close to adding a second for Celtic when he sent a headed effort towards goal from another good Hassan cross, but the Irishman’s headed effort bounced off the top of the crossbar and out for a goal-kick.
The Spanish visitors levelled the scoring in the 68th minute through Javi Rodriguez, who powered a header in to the net following a Hugo Alvarez cross from a free-kick.
Celta Vigo went 2-1 ahead just a few minutes later, and again Rodriguez was the scorer, though this time he found the back of the net with a powerful strike from outside the box.
Martin O’Neill responded to Celta’s goal with a substitution, bringing Kasper Høgh on for Haissem Hassan. There were a further two changes for Celtic soon after, with Mika Baur and Camilo Durán brought off for Oliver Sørensen and Sebastian Tounekti.
Celtic worked to try and find an equaliser and, with just under 10 minutes left of the 90, Colby Donovan got a shot on target from inside the box, but the young defender didn’t get the contact on the ball that he would have wanted and the Celta keeper was able to make the save.
The visitors were able to see their 2-1 lead through to the final whistle and took all three points from tonight’s match.