UEFA Europa LeagueThursday, October 2, 2025Celtic Park CELTIC…0 SC BRAGA…2(Horta 20, Martinez 85) Celtic were defeated 2-0 by Portuguese side SC Braga at Celtic Park tonight, with the away side grabbing a goal in each half to take all three points. Celtic started the match brightly, clearly looking to make the home advantage count and cause problems for the visitors in the opening stages. Sebastian Tounekti on the left wing was causing a host of problems for former Celt. Gustaf Lagerbielke, and with just over 10 minutes played, the Celtic winger forced a saved from the Braga keeper. That effort on target came after a brilliant piece of play between Iheanacho and Bernardo in the middle of the park, and the visitors had their goalkeeper to thank for keeping the scoreline level. After surviving that Celtic attack, the away side began to grow in to the game, sending a few balls in to the box, one of which landed at the feet of Vitor Carvalho at the back post, but the midfielder put his effort wide of the target. With just over 20 minutes gone, Braga took the lead after their captain, Ricardo Horta unleashed a strike from distance. His ball took a fierce dip towards Kasper Schmeichel, and the Celtic keeper will be disappointed that he couldn’t keep it out of the net, albeit it was a well-struck effort. That goal seemed to take the wind out of Celtic’s sails, and although the Hoops tried to build their momentum up again for the remainder of the first half, they went in 1-0 behind at the break.Brendan Rodgers made a change at half-time, bringing Marcelo Saracchi on for Colby Donovan and changing to a back three. Much like the first half, Celtic started on the front foot and early in the second period, Kelechi Iheanacho had the ball in the net after using his strength to break away from two Braga defenders and tuck the ball into the bottom corner. The referee, however, claimed that Iheanacho had handled the ball in the build-up and the goal wasn’t given. None of the replays of the incident appeared to show the forward touching the ball with his hand at any point, but the goal was still ruled out. Brendan Rodgers’ side continued to hunt for the equaliser, and just after the hour mark, Kieran Tierney found himself free at the back post as he headed the ball towards goal, but the Braga keeper produced a great save to keep it out. And the keeper was on hand again 15 minutes later with another superb save to deny Sebastian Tounekti who had weaved in to the box and curled a shot towards the far post. However, with five minutes left on the clock, Gabri Martinez made it 2-0 to Braga from inside the Celtic penalty area. He had a couple of efforts blocked in the lead-up to his goal, which came as the ball deflected off of him and into the back of the net from a clearance. It was a goal which, so late in the game, effectively put the match beyond the Celts.
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