Thursday night wasn’t an enjoyable one for Celtic fans.
Brendan Rodgers’ side went into their meeting with Braga as favourites – but a desperately poor performance coupled with an incredible referee error paved the way for a 2-0 defeat for the Hoops.
The result leaves Celtic with one point after two League Phase matches – a win in their next matchday against Sturm Graz feels essential.
Something which seemed to rub salt in the wounds for the Hoops support was Gustaf Lagerbielke’s involvement in the Braga win – the ex-Celt put in a sound defensive performance and earned a clean sheet.
But the rubbing-in doesn’t end there – elsewhere on the European stage on Thursday, it seemed that former Celtic players were on fire everywhere.
Three different ex-Celtic players on the scoresheet on Thursday
It’s never fun when a player leaves your club and goes on to be a star elsewhere – particularly when they’re doing it in the same competition in which you’re losing.
READ MORE: Ex-teammate tells Celtic why they miss ‘focal point’ Adam Idah in transfer window reflection
Thursday nights are busy for European football, with both Europa League and Conference League action taking place.
The former competition saw FC Basel take on Stuttgart. With the Germans sitting in fifth place in the Bundesliga having competed in last season’s Champions League, they entered the encounter as clear favourites.
Step in, Albian Ajeti. The Covid-era Celtic flop got the Swiss side off to the perfect start in the third minute, before a certain Xherdan Shaqiri sealed a 2-0 win in the closing stages,
Luis Palma had to issue an apology after getting sent off for a horror tackle in his last league outing for Lech Poznan, but he partially made up for it on the European stage.
The Honduran got his side’s Conference League campaign off to the perfect start with a goal and assist against Rapid Vienna – for whom Marco Tilio came on as a half-time substitute. It’s a small world.
Greg Taylor had to settle for the bench in PAOK’s away Europa League tie against Spanish side Celta Vigo – but he was on his feet when Giorgos Giakoumakis scored a typically instinctive striker’s goal in the first half.
Unfortunately for them, Celta would come back to win 3-1 – and as if there weren’t enough Celtic connections going on here already, Carl Starfelt played the whole 90 minutes for the Spaniards.
What Joe Hart said about Celtic’s Europa League defeat to Braga
Celtic have got enough on their own plate at the minute after the Braga defeat. For former Hoops goalkeeper Joe Hart, speaking on TNT Sports, there was plenty of reason for concern in the Hoops performance.
Hart said: “First half, no real energy, they didn’t quite know how they were going to approach this game. It somewhat mirrored the crowd.
“But like I said, you’ve got to be able to rise above that, whatever’s going on behind the scenes, you’ve got a job to do.
“Celtic are at their best when they’re on the front foot. Actually, second half, I enjoyed their performance to start with. First 20 minutes, on the front foot, Carter-Vickers and Scales were not often 50 yards away from the opposition goal.
“But with that comes risk, and Braga finally established and felt comfortable in their low block. They got through a few times and Celtic were hanging on, and the second goal killed them.”
A win against Sturm Graz now feels integral to the Hoops’ chances.
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