Celtic's difficult run in continental competition showed no signs of easing as the Scottish champions fell to a 3-1 defeat against Ferencvaros at Celtic Park in the opening round of Europa League fixtures. The result compounds a miserable few weeks for Martin O'Neill's side, who had already exited Champions League qualifying to Austrian outfit Lask after squandering a four-goal advantage, and were thrashed 3-0 by rivals Rangers in their most recent domestic outing.
The Hungarian visitors took the lead through Bamidele Yusuf, though Celtic responded before the interval when Mika Baur netted an equaliser to level matters heading into the break. Any hope of building on that momentum was quickly extinguished, however, as Kristoffer Zachariassen restored Ferencvaros' advantage shortly after the restart. The evening was made complete for the away side when Daniel Arzani, making a return to a ground he once represented, produced a moment of individual brilliance to seal victory with a spectacular finish.
Speaking after the match, O'Neill acknowledged the pain of another poor European night while pointing to missed opportunities that might have changed the complexion of the contest. "We're naturally disappointed getting beaten," he said. "We started off very brightly. We had a number of balls that were flashed across the goal and no one there to put the ball in the net for us."
He continued to reflect on how Celtic were undone by their opponents' clinical edge. "Their first proper attempt, really, on goal yielded a goal for them. We came back into the game, got the equaliser just before half-time and then conceded a really poor goal. We're hit on the break for the third goal. While we had a number of balls flashed across the box, even in the last 20 minutes, we didn't get there to the front post a number of times that could've kept it alive and we're beaten in the game."
The Celtic manager admitted the loss carries weight beyond the scoreline itself. "It's a huge frustration, obviously, but it's also psychologically quite damning as well. It's not the start we wanted. We have seven games in which to try and get some points on the board. Really need to concentrate now on Sunday [against Rangers]." He added that the setback should serve as a learning experience: "Tonight was, I think, a European lesson for us in many aspects. We'll get ourselves together. We need to re-energise ourselves as much as anything else."
Elsewhere in the competition, Juventus delivered a commanding performance against NEC Nijmegen, cruising to a 5-0 victory aided significantly by two costly errors from Dutch goalkeeper Nikolas Polster. Nicolás González capitalized on the first mistake to open the scoring in the ninth minute, before goals from Kerim Alajbegovic and a Nick Woltemade penalty put the Italian side firmly in control by half-time. Zeki Celik added a fourth shortly after the hour mark, and Randal Kolo Muani rounded off the scoring after Polster's second blunder gifted him an empty net.
Marseille's troubled campaign deepened further as they suffered a heavy 4-1 loss away to Besiktas, extending their poor form after three consecutive Ligue 1 defeats. The Turkish hosts pulled away with three unanswered goals in the second half to seal the result.
Among other fixtures, Greek club OFI Crete secured a 2-0 home win over Hoffenheim, while RB Salzburg edged past Levski Sofia 1-0 on the road in Bulgaria.
Based on reporting from Guardian Football.