Celtic began their Europa League campaign with a 3-1 home defeat to Ferencvaros on Thursday, extending a difficult week for Martin O’Neill’s side.
The Scottish champions took control of possession early at Celtic Park but were punished by defensive mistakes as the Hungarian visitors secured all three points. The result came just days after Celtic suffered a 3-0 defeat to Rangers in the Scottish League Cup.
Ferencvaros opened the scoring in the 20th minute when Bamidele Yusuf’s effort took a decisive deflection off Celtic defender Liam Scales and went beyond goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo.
Celtic responded before half-time. Kieran Tierney created the opportunity with a run into the penalty area before cutting the ball back to Mika Baur, who fired home in the 44th minute to make it 1-1.
However, the home side were unable to take the momentum into the interval. Yusuf found space inside the Celtic box and set up Ferencvaros captain Kristoffer Zachariassen, who restored the visitors’ advantage in first-half stoppage time.
Ferencvaros then increased their lead shortly after the restart. Former Celtic forward Daniel Arzani collected the ball after another defensive error and produced a powerful finish into the top corner in the 47th minute.
Celtic continued to create opportunities as they searched for a way back into the game. Substitute Benjamin Nygren came close with a curling effort, while Sebastian Tounekti also tested Ferencvaros goalkeeper Adam Varga, but the hosts could not find a second goal.
Celtic finished with 63 per cent possession and 16 shots, compared with 14 from Ferencvaros, but the visitors had six efforts on target to Celtic’s four.
The defeat leaves O’Neill’s team needing a response quickly, with Rangers due to visit Celtic Park on Sunday. O’Neill acknowledged afterwards that his side had been given a “European lesson” and said the team needed to recover and improve ahead of the next match.