Celtic’s Struggles Continue with Europa League Misery | OneFootball

Celtic suffered a first European home defeat in two years and it should not take long to identify why this has happened.

From Lionel Messi to Cristiano Ronaldo, the finest players to have graced the game agree that there is no better atmosphere than the one found at Celtic Park. Yet on Thursday, thousands of seats were left empty as Celtic limped to a 2-0 defeat against Braga.

“You’ll never walk alone” is always played before the Bhoys take to the pitch in Europe, but a decision appeared to be made that this would be inappropriate, considering the circumstances. Even with the Green Brigade postponing their 29 minutes of silence after agreeing to meet with the Celtic board next Monday, the atmosphere was noticeably flat.

Celtic’s Europa League performance was terrible

The performance on the pitch was no better than the atmosphere, as Braga clinched a rare victory in Glasgow. Their opening goal was an impressive strike, but one which Kasper Schmeichel should have been saving. The Danish goalkeeper’s distribution was equally poor and Brendan Rodgers should really consider dropping him to give Viljami Sinisalo a chance.

Celtic conceded a second goal toward the end of the match and their defending was simply not good enough. It is ironic that Gustaf Largerbielke kept a clean sheet at the other end of the pitch. The Braga defender scored Celtic’s winning goal against Feyenoord in the 2023/24 Champions League, only to make two appearances off the bench before being moved on.

The Celtic midfield was nowhere near good enough. Once again there were far too many slow, sideways passes. Callum McGregor has been off the pace all season and Benjamin Nygren played a few good games and has since looked way off the mark. The decision to start Paulo Bernardo was understandable, but it failed to bear any fruit.

VAR controversy

Celtic once again failed to score at Parkhead, well, according to the officials anyway. Kelechi Iheanacho looked to have netted an equalizer, but up stepped VAR with one of the worst decisions you will ever see.

The ball was deemed to have struck the striker’s arm, but this appears inconclusive after viewing the clip multiple times. The referee was not even called over to the pitchside monitor, but was instead instructed to chalk off the goal. They should scrap the ‘assistant’ term and just call the official from afar a video referee.

As bad as this decision was, Celtic’s lack of attacking quality was evident. Daizen Maeda wanted to leave in the summer and his form has fallen off a cliff. The fact he had to fill in at right wing due to an alarming lack of squad depth in the position did not help either.

Sebastian Tounekti has looked far more dangerous since he arrived near the end of the transfer window, but he is still new to the club, while Iheanacho is still getting his fitness up to the required standard. Outside the starting eleven, there is a serious lack of good-quality players in the Celtic squad.

Who is to blame?

The Celtic Board, first and foremost. This is a team who were competing with Bayern Munich earlier in the year. There was clearly a decline in form after this and the Scottish Cup final should have been the call for action. However, those at the top of the Celtic hierarchy have failed spectacularly.

Nicolas Kuhn and Adam Idah were both sold and generated profits of more than £20m, yet Celtic opted for cheap, last minute signings, some of whom are yet to start a game.

However, Rodgers must share some of the blame. His negative and boring tactics have gone on long enough. Celtic have failed to score in five of their 12 matches this season, which is almost unprecedented. It is time to try something other than a 4-3-3 with a slow, patient build-up because this is simply not working.

Celtic are not alone in their struggles

Celtic are not the only team failing to help the Scottish coefficient. Rangers were defeated yet again as Russell Martin somehow manages to remain in his job. Their loss was to Sturm Graz, the same team Celtic will host next in the Europa League.

Aberdeen put up a respectable fight against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Conference League, but this was not enough to prevent a 3-2 defeat. For both Celtic and Scottish football as a whole, this has been a very bad week indeed.