Celtic’s quest for a rare Champions League away victory goes on after having two men sent off in a second-half implosion to hand top seeds Feyenoord an opening group win.
It was a night that began with such promise, as Brendan Rodgers’ side started brightly in search of a first away win in the competition since beating Anderlecht in 2017.
But it ended with another painful European defeat that leaves them bottom of the group after Lazio and Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 in Rome.
Things began to go wrong after a mature and composed opening half, when a long-range Calvin Stengs free-kick pierced the defensive wall and skimmed beyond Joe Hart.
The goalkeeper might have done better. The defensive wall might have too. Celtic never quite recovered.
The goal lifted the Dutch champions, who had struggled until then, and they capitalised in the second half as Celtic’s night completely unravelled.
Gustaf Lagerbielke conceded a penalty for a tug in the box on Igor Paixao and was shown a second yellow card, before Hart offered some hope with a great save from Paixao’s spot-kick.
The task become too great, though, when substitute Odin Thiago Holm crashed wildly into a tackle and earned a straight red.
Alireza Jahanbakhsh then made sure of Feyenoord’s win after being gifted time and space to finish emphatically.
It was the least the Dutch deserved, with further efforts disallowed either side of that goal as Celtic hung on. Ultimately, they got away with not losing by a bigger margin.
Lazio come to Glasgow next. An already daunting challenge suddenly looks even tougher.
Player of the match – Calvin Stengs (Feyenoord)
Major lessons need to be learned – analysis
The timing of the opener was such a hammer blow for Celtic. To that point they had more than matched their opponents, who struggled to engineer consistent pressure.
Celtic had a good balance of being fairly solid, with a decent shape, composed on the ball in the main and carrying some threat. They had chances and one or two better decisions may have paid dividends.
Daizen Maeda had two good opportunities, the first after after great work from Matt O’Riley, and Reo Hatate’s shot was blocked.
But the opening goal was absolutely crucial. Feyenoord returned with more purpose and tempo after half-time. It counted and Celtic’s night fell apart .
With nine men on the pitch it looked like a mission impossible. So it proved.
Celtic will take some heart from that opening half but major lessons will need to be learned ahead of the visit of Lazio.
‘We showed we’re going to be competitive’ – reaction
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: “What we showed is that we’re going to be competitive. We started really well. We looked a threat and progressed the ball. With better decisions we might’ve had an opportunity to get in front.
“Unfortunately we get two players sent off. It’s a difficult level at 11 v 11. The players kept going, it was harsh on them. The first 60 minutes we were well in the game. They never gave up.
“With one or two more players coming back, it’ll hopefully put us in really good stead for the remainder of the competition.”
Celtic captain Callum McGregor on TNT Sports: “They get the goal right before half time and that undoes a lot of good work from us. It would have been easy to lose three, four or five at that point which is testament to the group.
“Then to get two men sent off in quick succession takes the game away from us… we’ll learn the lesson.
“There are five games to go so hopefully they’ll be walking off thinking we didn’t give up, we didn’t quit, we were still fighting for each other at the end. It’s a disappointing night but we have five games to try and fix it.”
