The evening began with high hopes as Brendan Rodgers’ team started brightly, aiming for their first away win in the competition since defeating Anderlecht in 2017. However, it concluded with yet another painful European defeat, leaving them at the bottom of the group after Lazio and Atletico Madrid played to a 1-1 draw in Rome.
The turn of events started after a mature and composed first half, when Calvin Stengs unleashed a long-range free-kick that pierced through the defensive wall and slipped past Joe Hart. Both the goalkeeper and the defensive wall could have performed better, and Celtic struggled to recover. The goal provided a lift to the Dutch champions, who had been struggling until that point, and they capitalized in the second half, causing Celtic’s night to completely unravel.
Gustaf Lagerbielke conceded a penalty for a foul in the box on Igor Paixao and was shown a second yellow card, but Hart provided a glimmer of hope with a remarkable save from Paixao’s penalty kick.
However, the task became insurmountable when substitute Odin Thiago Holm recklessly crashed into a tackle and received a straight red card.
Alireza Jahanbakhsh then ensured Feyenoord’s victory, given ample time and space to emphatically finish. It was well-deserved by the Dutch team, with additional efforts disallowed on both sides of that goal while Celtic struggled to hold on. Ultimately, they were fortunate not to suffer a more significant loss.
Next up, Lazio visits Glasgow, making an already challenging task suddenly seem even tougher.
