Match Pictures | Matches: 2025 – 2026
Trivia
- KO: 20:00, Thursday, TNT Sports
- Europa League/UEFA Cup Group match
- Celtic in 24th on 7pts & -4GD so JUST in the running for the play-off stage but really need a win in at least one of the last two games. Sevco knocked out of UEFA Cup already after 2-1 defeat to ex-Celt Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros. Aberdeen lost in the Conference League.
- Roma top of Serie A, and are a very strong side whilst Celtic currently have been poor in much of the season. Evan Ferguson is an Irish striker and scored twice today and has been linked with a move to Celtic.
- Celtic Head of Scouting Operations Jay LeFevre left Celtic .
- Club Brugge fired head coach Nicky Hayen just weeks after he directly addressed rumours linking him with Celtic,leaving for reasons that seem to mirror Rodgers departure from Celtic!
- Ex-Celt John ‘Dixie’ Deans passed away, RIP.
- Every 2026 World Cup match to feature two “hydration breaks,” no matter the weather. Each half will pause for exactly three minutes midway through.It’s a player welfare measure supposedly.
- FIFA has been urged to halt World Cup ticket sales after it emerged countries’ most loyal fans faced paying “extortionate” prices for tickets, with the cheapest for the final coming in at over £3,000.
- Reports:
- Columbus Crew forward Diego Rossi, West Ham United midfielder Andy Irving and Shamrock Rovers striker Michael Noonan are among Celtic’s possible January signing targets.
- Lech Poznan will only be able to afford to sign on-loan Celtic winger Luis Palma on a permanent basis for the required £3.9m if they qualify for Europe next season. (Kanal Sportowy).
Summary
BBC
Steepest of learning curves nowpublished at 22:07 GMT
22:07 GMT
FT: Celtic 0-3 Roma
Kheredine Idessane
BBC Scotland at Celtic Park
FT: Celtic 0-3 RomaImage source, SNS
This really has been a sobering night for all associated with Celtic.
Yes, the second half was an improvement but that’s only because things could not conceivably have deteriorated from the ineptitude of the first period.
New manager Wilfried Nancy’s dream move to Europe is fast turning into a nightmare, although he doesn’t seem to be the type to panic after just a couple of games in charge.
One thing is clear, though, the feelgood factor Martin O’Neill restored has completely vanished and the mood music going into Sunday’s League Cup final is now off-key.
A lot will be made of numbers and formations, 3-4-3 and the like.
The simple fact is this: unless Nancy finds a way of putting round pegs into round holes, he’s in for a lot more pain going forward with St Mirren smacking their lips at the prospect of Sunday’s showdown.
Archie MacKay @paperbhoy.bsky.social · 39m To be honest, I don’t think that result was as bad as it looked, particularly given how shockingly bad we were first half. Nancy gave the same 11 a chance to give a reaction and told them what he thought by hauling three off at the break. This can still work if the players buy in. Mon the Hoops
chrisc35.bsky.social @chrisc35.bsky.social · 42m Less than a year ago we were taking Bayern right to the last minute in a CL game with a good battling display away from home. The difference between then and now is absolutely shocking. Where we were all looking forward to the team kicking on and progressing, instead we’ve regressed remarkably!
No Roma fans at this match as they had been handed three-game ban from entering away grounds in Europa League.
Teams
Celtic
Manager: Wilfried Nancy
Formation: 3 – 4 – 3
01 K. Schmeichel
63 K. Tierney, subbed for C. Donovan at 46mins
05 L. Scales
06 A. Trusty
23 S. Tounekti
41 R. Hatate, subbed for M. Balikwisha at 77mins
42 C. McGregor (c), Captain
13 Yang Hyun-Jun, subbed for A. Ralston at 62mins
08 B. Nygren, subbed for K. Ịheanachọ at 46mins
38 D. Maeda, subbed for Paulo Bernardo at 46mins
27 A. Engels
Subs:
51 C. Donovan
31 R. Doohan
28 Paulo Bernardo
24 J. Kenny
14 L. McCowan
47 D. Murray
10 M. Balikwisha
56 A. Ralston
12 V. Sinisalo
17 K. Ịheanachọ
Goals:
Assists:
Roma
Manager: Gian Piero Gasperini
Formation: 3 – 4 – 2 – 1
99 M. Svilar
22 Hermoso 45’+3, Yellow Card at 45mins plus 3, subbed for J. Ziółkowski at 80mins
05 E. Ndicka 78′, Yellow Card at 78mins
23 G. Mancini
02 D. Rensch
61 N. Pisilli, subbed for Angeliño at 85mins
08 N. El Aynaoui
19 Z. Çelik
92 S. El Shaarawy (c), Captain45’+4, Yellow Card at 45mins plus 4, subbed for L. Pellegrini at 69mins
18 M. Soulé 45’+5, Yellow Card at 45mins plus 5, subbed for P. Dybala at 69mins
11 E. Ferguson, subbed for L. Bailey at 69mins
Subs:
31 L. Bailey
04 B. Cristante
70 G. De Marzi
21 P. Dybala
03 Angeliño
43 Wesley
87 D. Ghilardi
95 P. Gollini
17 M. Koné
07 L. Pellegrini
12 K. Tsimikas
24 J. Ziółkowski 88′, Yellow Card at 88mins
L. Scales (6′ og)Own Goal
E. Ferguson (36′, 45’+1)
Assists:Z. Çelik (36′), M. Soulé (45’+1)
Referee István Kovács
Video Assistant Referee Catalin Popa
Assistant Referee 1 Mihai Marica
Assistant Referee 2 Ferencz Tunyogi
Fourth Official Szabolcs Kovacs
Assistant VAR Official Jerome Brisard
Venue:Celtic Park
Attendance:56,188
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Match Links
- Prior https://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/celtic-vs-roma-pre-match-thread-thursday-11-decemb-t144046.html
- Match https://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/celtic-v-roma-live-match-thread-ft-0-3-t144057.html
- Post https://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/celtic-v-roma-post-match-thread-ft-0-3-t144059.html
- MoTM https://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/motm-v-roma-t144058.html
Stats
Overall possession
Celtic 56.9% Roma 43.1%
Shots
Celtic 9 Roma 12
Shots on target
Celtic 2 Roma 5
Total touches inside the opposition box
Celtic 21 Roma 24
Goalkeeper saves
Celtic 3 Roma 2
Aerial duels won
Celtic 4 Roma 18
Fouls committed
Celtic 10 Roma 9
Corners
Celtic 4 Roma 4
In-depth match stats
Attack
Shots
Celtic 9 Roma 12
Shots on target
Celtic 2 Roma 5
Shots off target
Celtic 5 Roma 5
Attempts out of box
Celtic 3 Roma 3
Hit woodwork
Celtic 1 Roma 1
Total offsides
Celtic 3 Roma 8
Distribution
Total passes
Celtic 599 Roma 444
Pass accuracy %
Celtic 85.1 Roma 81.1
Backward passes
Celtic 107 Roma 63
Forward passes
Celtic 180 Roma 148
Total long balls
Celtic 65 Roma 48
Successful final third passes
Celtic 120 Roma 94
Total crosses
Celtic 9 Roma 13
Defence
Total tackles
Celtic 14 Roma 15
Won tackle %
Celtic 64.3 Roma 53.3
Fouls committed
Celtic 10 Roma 9
Total yellow cards
Celtic 0 Roma 5
Total clearances
Celtic 14 Roma 20
Pre Match Facts
Although this is Celtic’s 33rd major European meeting with Italian teams, it’s their first ever against Roma. They have won two of their last 16 against Italian opponents (D4 L10), both against Lazio in the 2019-20 UEFA Europa League.
Roma have already beaten Rangers at Ibrox in the UEFA Europa League this season. The last team to win away from home against both Celtic and Rangers in a season in all competitions was Inverness Caledonian Thistle in 2012-13.
None of Celtic’s last 19 UEFA Europa League matches at Celtic Park have ended in a draw (W10 L9) since a 2-2 draw with Fenerbahçe back in October 2015.
Roma are looking to win three consecutive UEFA Europa League matches for the first time since doing so in September/October 2023.
Celtic winger Sebastian Tounekti has made the most ball carries in the UEFA Europa League this season that have ended in the opposition penalty area (32), while he ranks third among non-defenders for ball carry distance (1,043 metres).
Articles
BBC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/cx2dxgmrz5nt#Report
Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland at Celtic Park
Celtic conceded three goals in a horror Europa League first half against Roma as Wilfried Nancy became the first ever manager of the club to lose his opening two games in charge.
After defeat against Hearts in the Scottish Premiership on his debut last Sunday, Nancy’s side trailed early after Liam Scales headed into his own goal from a corner.
The misery was compounded by a brace from boyhood Celtic fan Evan Ferguson.
That put the game well beyond the Scottish champions even before Arne Engels struck a post with a penalty in stoppage time at the end of the first period, summing up the home team’s ineptitude.
The ironic cheering of the Roma fans rang round the stadium moments before a chorus of boos accompanied the Parkhead side off the pitch.
No further damage was done by the impressive Italian visitors during a second half in which Leon Bailey and Kelechi Iheanacho both had goals ruled out.
However, defeat has dented Celtic’s hopes of progressing to the knockout stage, with Nancy’s side poised perilously just inside the qualification places with two games remaining.
Celtic beaten at home by Roma – reaction & analysis
Why have Nancy’s tactics board & green shoes caused consternation?
Published
1 day ago
Latest Celtic news, analysis and fan views
Published
18 June 2023
The ease with which Roma sliced through Celtic was as worrying as the amount of times they gave the ball away or were dispossessed by the visitors’ eager press.
Celtic’s resistance, if you could call it that, was broken after only six minutes. A corner from the right was headed beyond his own keeper by Scales.
Ferguson’s double was simplicity personified, Roma exploiting the spaces they had in the wide areas and feeding the striker with opportunities to score.
Nancy watched the carnage unfolding in front of him impassively, arms folded. No in-game changes, little apparent in the way of in-game management.
That changed at half time, with Kieran Tierney, Benjamin Nygren and Daizen Maeda replaced by Colby Donovan, Paulo Bernardo and Iheanacho.
The substitutes made a difference, with Celtic less porous at the back and more of a threat up front. Iheanacho thought he had scored after providing a cute finish to a nice move, only to be thwarted by a VAR offside ruling.
A similar thing happened to Roma, who thought they had a deserved fourth when substitute Bailey bent in from inside the area, only for him to suffer the same fate.
Still, the Serie A side cruised to their second win in Glasgow in a matter of months after their 2-0 victory in this competition at Ibrox.
Analysis: Nancy keeps faith, Roma take advantage
Celtic’s new manager will need to find some dramatic improvements, and quickly, before things unravel in front of his eyes in just his first couple of weeks in charge.
His decision to stick with the same starting XI who lost to Hearts backfired, with one of Celtic’s worst first-half performances in recent memory. It would be hard to overstate the manner in which they were totally outplayed.
Three cheap goals goals conceded. Numerous other chances afforded. A really good Kasper Schmeichel save. The failure of record signing Engels to hit the target with a penalty.
Fielding only three defenders in each of his first two games has brought nothing but pain for Nancy, who seemed content to let the first period play out even when it was very clearly not going to plan.
If he’s stress-testing his players, several have failed. Using wingers Yang Hyun-Jun and Sebastian Tounekti as the last line of defence in wide areas to accommodate his 3-4-3 system is surely unsustainable.
Roma were streets ahead in every department, despite coach Gian Piero Gasperini opting to leave Bryan Cristante, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Kostas Tsimikas, Manu Kone, Paulo Dybala and Wesley on the bench.
What the Italian giants might have done to Celtic with their best side on the pitch barely bears thinking about.
As lessons go, this was a sore one. As learning curves go, this is as steep as it gets for the new Celtic manager.
Two big games, two damaging defeats, both at a disbelieving Parkhead, where frustrated fans are looking for reasons to vent further at the club’s heirarchy. St Mirren will approach Sunday’s League Cup final with optimism.
Celtic’s players who look like a shadow of those who Martin O’Neill steered to seven wins out of eight and Nancy will have learned plenty about them.
The changes he makes for the Hampden showpiece – assuming he makes any at all – could determine whether he’s holding silverware at the end of his first full week in charge or holding his head in exasperation at a start out of his worst nightmares.
Celtic suffer Europa League defeat to Roma at Paradise
First Team
By Paul Cuddihy, Celtic View Editor
Share
11 Dec 2025, 9:56 pm
UEFA Europa League
League Phase, Matchday Six
Thursday, December 11, 2025
CELTIC…0
ROMA…3
(Scales 5og, Ferguson 35 & 45+1)
Celtic suffered a 3-0 home defeat to Roma in the Europa League as the Italian side established a commanding first-half lead that they never looked like relinquishing.
It was the toughest of opening 45 minutes for Celtic against a strong Roma side who took just five minutes to open the scoring.
A corner into the area saw Gianluca Mancini and Liam Scales rise for the ball on the edge of the six-yard box, and a last touch off the Irishman’s head saw it land in the back of the net.
Five minutes later, Stephan El Shaarawy saw his shot go wide of the target, while Matías Soulé went closer just 60 seconds later, but his effort was saved by Kasper Schmeichel.
On 24 minutes Zeki Çelik’s effort went wide of the target as Roma continued their pursuit of a second goal, which nearly came three minutes later when Evan Ferguson hit the near post after surging into the box.
The Italian side continued to dominate the game, creating a number of chances, and their second goal came on 36 minutes when Ferguson slotted home from close-ranger from a Celik cross.
Celtic’s first real chance of note came two minutes later when they carved out a move into the box but Reo Hatate’s shot was over.
And in the first minute of added time, Ferguson scored again to make it 3-0 to Roma with an impressive turn and finish inside the area.
There was still time for Celtic to reduce the deficit when they were awarded a penalty after Arne Engels was brought down inside the box, but the Belgian’s spot-kick hit the spot and went behind.
57%
Possession
43%
9
Shots
12
2
Shots On Target
5
4
Corners
4
10
Fouls
9
0
0
Cards
5
0
The second-half saw three changes to the Celtic side and one of those, Kelechi Iheanacho, nearly scored when he was sent through on goal but his effort went narrowly wide.
Roma continued to look dangerous on the attack, though on 56 minutes, Callum McGregor saw his shot from outside the area go just over the bar.
And on 63 minutes, Celtic did manage to score. Hatate threaded a ball through the inside channel for Engels and his first-time cross into the box was guided into the net by Iheanacho, but a VAR review ruled the goal out for offside.
Leon Bailey, on loan at Roma from Aston Villa, thought he’d made it 4-0 to Roma on 73 minutes, but his effort from inside the box was ruled out for offside.
Bailey was then denied by Kasper Schmeichel after he was put through on goal, with Liam Scales blocking a follow-up effort.
Mikel-Ange Balikwisha had an added time effort saved, but there was to be no further scoring on a difficult night for the Hoops, who must now turn their attentions to Sunday’s League Cup final against St Mirren at Hampden.
Celtic: Schmeichel, Trusty, Scales, Tierney (Donovan 45′), Hyunjun Yang (Ralston 62′), McGregor, Hatate (Balikwisha 77′), Tounekti, Engels, Maeda (Paulo Bernardo 45′), Nygren (Iheanacho 45′)
Subs: Balikwisha, Sinisalo, McCowan, Iheanacho, Kenny, Paulo Bernardo, Doohan, Murray, Donovan, Ralston
Roma: Svilar, Mancini, Ndicka, Hermoso (Ziólkowski 80′), Çelik, El Aynaoui, Pisilli (Angeliño 85′), Rensch, Soulé (Dybala 69′), El Shaarawy (Pellegrini 69′), Ferguson (Bailey 69′)
Subs: Angeliño, Cristante, Pellegrini, Tsimikas, Koné, Dybala, Ziólkowski, Bailey, Wesley, De Marzi, Ghilardi, Gollini
Nancy exposed to brutal life as Celtic manager as cup final looms’
Wilfried Nancy puts his hand to his head after losing his second match in charge of https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cm2887zk7r3o
Image caption,
Wilfried Nancy is the first Celtic manager to lose his first two games in charge
By
Tom English
BBC Scotland’s chief sports writer
Published
55 minutes ago
It’s an image in the mind’s eye that’s hard to shift.
Stephen Robinson studying Wilfried Nancy’s Celtic as the hours tick by to Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final. Forensic analysis in every waking hour. And for the St Mirren manager, suddenly, hope.
A little over a week ago, as Martin O’Neill, the great redeemer, exited the club in a fanfare of gratitude and optimism, Robinson would have to face a team content in its own skin again.
What he must see now is something altogether different.
He’s got to be seeing weakness and a chance. Everybody else can see it.
Nancy had two ways to go when he took over – he could have done a steering job with O’Neill’s team until the January transfer window, when he could start putting his own imprint on things.
Or he could dive right in. And dive right in he has done.
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On the back of losing to Heart of Midlothian on Sunday in his first game in charge, Nancy’s side have lost a second game, a 3-0 doing by Roma at a fast-emptying and, at the end, booing Celtic Park.
It’s not so much that they lost to Roma – O’Neill, Brendan Rodgers and Ange Postecoglou could all have lost to the Italians just as easily – but it’s the confusion that exists under Nancy now that’s intriguing, the speed with which O’Neill’s work has seemingly unravelled.
The players pressed into ill-fitting roles. The apparent devotion to an ideology of how this team must play regardless of whether the players he has inherited are cut out to play it.
Nancy’s unwelcome record at Celtic already
The fact that Nancy is now the first Celtic manager in history to lose his first two games. The reality that Thursday was only the second time in history that Celtic conceded three first-half goals at home in Europe.
The uneasy truth that Liam Scales’ own goal was the earliest concession in a European game at Celtic in more than a decade.
These are not the kind of records that Nancy came here to set. The brutal realities of life as a Celtic manager have descended on his head in double-quick time.
The crumbs of comfort wouldn’t feed a sparrow right now. They amount to Celtic not having caved in and conceded more goals in the second half against Roma. Nancy did his best to feast on that in the aftermath.
Has psychological damage been done this past week? You argue that it has. Do Celtic look confused on the pitch? Yes, again. Will Nancy go back to basics on Sunday? Unlikely. Are Celtic fans more worried now about the League Cup final than they were a little over a week ago? In the case of some or many, undoubtedly.
Nancy was subjected to an awful lot of garbage in the wake of Tynecastle, as if his tactics board was an affront to football, as if his perfectly normal trainers made him any less capable of doing his job.
The one truth about managing Celtic, or any other team with high demands, is that, if you are a winning manager, you can turn up in a tutu. Nobody would care. If anything, it would spark a trend – if you’re winning.
Now that he’s off to a losing start, the doubt is out there, the feeling that maybe Celtic should have stuck with O’Neill for a while longer or that, perhaps, it was a bit reckless to give control of the team to a manager with little experience and no exposure to the kind of suffocating heat of a Glasgow giant.
Again, it’s not just the losses that might be making some Celtic fans gulp. It’s the rapid reimagining of O’Neill’s team and the disintegration of the organisation that had been created.
We can make too much of what O’Neill achieved – his side weren’t always easy on the eye in his brief second spell – but they won all bar one game. They toiled badly at times, but they got the job done, they triumphed on the road in Europe, which is something Celtic rarely do.
Nancy has gone to three at the back, and with three left-footers, which is something that Derek McInnes gorged on at Tynecastle. He has tried to reinvent a left winger, Yang Hyun-Jun, into a right wing-back – and it hasn’t worked. He’s tried to recast Sebastian Tounekti, a left winger, into a left wing-back. That hasn’t worked either.
Nancy doesn’t seem to think that these changes are a big deal, but the demeanour of his team suggests otherwise. Against Roma, and at times against Hearts, they looked like a ship that’s been taken off course due to choppy waters.
‘Judgement day can come quick in Glasgow’
His players look confused in a system that doesn’t agree with them. It’s only two games and it’s a tiny sample size. In a normal world. Glasgow is not a normal world.
Judgement Day can come in the space of 45 minutes in this place. In the case of Russell Martin, the former Rangers head coach, it came before a whistle was blown in a competitive match for a section of the support. Things are different in this city.
Nancy had precious little time on the training ground with his players, but he still made gung-ho changes against Hearts when a steadier approach might have been wise.
Maybe if John Kennedy was still in the coaching team then he might have been persuaded to go more gently and more slowly, but Kennedy, a near-30-year veteran of the club as player and assistant coach, left when Rodgers went. Some clever counsel may have left with him.
The concern for Celtic folk is that Nancy gives the impression of a man wedded to a system of playing rather than adapting his system based on what he has in the dressing room. Square pegs don’t tend to fit into round holes, no matter how hard you try to hammer them in.
Comparisons have been made to Postecoglou, but this is not the same thing. Yes, Postecoglou had a “my way or the highway” approach, but he had walked into a losing club in desperate need of a rebuild.
Celtic’s next five fixtures
Nancy needs new blood, but he doesn’t need to perform the major surgery that Postecoglou needed to perform. He doesn’t need to rip it up and start again as the Australian had to do.
Nancy deserves time, deserves a January window, deserves some new players of his own choosing. You only get those things in the future if you win in the here and now. That was something that Martin, at Rangers, claimed he knew, but did he really? His medium to long-term “no gain without pain” mantra suggested otherwise.
It’s a case study that Nancy, even this early, could do with looking at. It’s unlikely that he will switch back to a more pragmatic O’Neillesque formation on Sunday, when St Mirren will attempt to make it a battle and expose the uncertainty in the Celtic team.
This might all come right. If Callum McGregor lifts the trophy at Hampden then everything becomes easier – for a day or two. It would give Nancy a lift, it would give him credibility and a chance to bond with supporters. He needs that trophy, big-time.
The flip-side, the mission that Robinson is working on, is not something the Frenchman wants to contemplate. A third defeat and he will feel like the sky has fallen.
Does Nancy ‘know what he’s walked in to’ amid horror Celtic start?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/czdgg52e9qmo
Media caption,
Nancy defiant after Roma defeat
ByAmy Canavan
BBC Sport Scotland
Published
6 hours ago
“I don’t think he quite knows what he’s walked into.”
Joe Hart likely did not mean it to sound like a criticism of Wilfried Nancy, but it wasn’t difficult to derive a note of concern in the former Celtic goalkeeper’s voice.
Nancy – just eight days into his reign as manager – had suffered a second defeat in his second game in charge, a meek 3-0 Europa League capitulation at the hands of Roma. That followed a home defeat against league leaders Hearts on Sunday.
No Celtic boss had ever lost his opening two matches. Not until now.
Frenchman Nancy – parachuted in from Columbus Crew in MLS without any managerial experience in Europe – was calm in the aftermath.
He spoke about how he saw “good things” in the second half against a Roma side who did not need to be anywhere near their best.
But that alarmed Hart, just as it will have the Celtic supporters. The consequences of a third defeat in a row, in Sunday’s League Cup final against St Mirren, does not bear thinking about.
“It’s not his fault that he doesn’t understand,” Hart, who left Celtic in summer 2024 after three seasons at the club, said on TNT Sports. “I didn’t walk in and just understand what it was to be Celtic. They expect you to win.
“Wilfried Nancy needs the people who appointed him to be in his ear. Not just telling him about tactics, but telling him how important Sunday is.”
Nancy first Celtic boss to lose opening two games after abject Roma defeat
Why have Nancy’s tactics board & green shoes caused consternation?
‘It breaks my heart to see Celtic Park like this’
As the players walked out at a packed Celtic Park, and a stirring rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone echoed around the stadium, the camera cut to Nancy.
The disco lights, which were splurged out on for these European nights, flashed towards the Frenchman.
Hart said the ground in the east end of Glasgow is a “special place” on such occasions but the mood of that place has turned sour in recent times.
Long before Nancy’s arrival, the club was riven with disharmony.
The events of last summer – recruitment issues, Champions League dismay, Brendan Rodgers’ acrimonious departure – had cast a long shadow.
Martin O’Neill’s interim stint back at the club steadied matters, with seven wins from eight games and an uplift in the mood.
But by the time Roma had a fourth goal ruled out in the closing stages on Thursday, large swathes of the crowd had gone home. Many fans had seen enough.
“It breaks my heart to see [Celtic Park] like this,” said Hart. “The atmosphere just isn’t there. This is such a special football club, but it’s only special when it’s united.
“It’s not easy for a new manager and new system, but it’s not rocket science and Nancy’s got to learn quick.”
Perhaps one thing all of a green and white persuasion could agree upon was that Roma were rampant as they cantered to a second win in Glasgow this term.
“It wasn’t good enough, especially first half, we lost too many duels and too many sloppy balls,” midfielder Arne Engels – who missed a first-half penalty – said.
“We know we can do better and hopefully we can move on because we have a final in a few days. We need to keep our heads high and move on.
“It’s up to us to react. We need to look to ourselves to keep performing.”
Engels speaking after Europa League defeat to Roma
‘I’ve seen good things’ – Nancy
While the players who performed admirably for O’Neill look at themselves in a mirror, Nancy might need to retrieve his discarded tactics board.
He switched to an unfamilar back three for the defeat against Hearts and named an unchanged team to face Roma, and was rewarded with a horror first-half showing.
Celtic conceded three calamitous goals before Nancy could get them in at half time to regroup – making three significant changes with Kieran Tierney, Benjamin Nygren and Daizen Maeda all withdrawn.
Despite that, he maintains he still saw “good things”.
“The reality is we were not able to cope with the intensity,” Nancy told TNT Sports. “The first half was difficult, we were not able to come out of the pressure, but the second half was better.
“I cannot tell you [the players] didn’t try – they tried.
Celtic’s next five fixtures
“I’m not concerned, I really liked the reaction. They deserve at least to score one goal and the dynamic could change.
“The result isn’t what we want but I’ve seen good things. This is a bit difficult because my players deserve a bit more, the belief of my players is really strong.”
Nancy might have liked the reaction, but the pundits inside Parkhead were not as impressed.
Former Scotland international James McFadden said “it was a cruise for Roma in the end”, while ex-Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner said “the only thing Celtic can do now is try to save face” in the dying embers of the game.
But former Celtic centre-back and assistant manager Johan Mjallby arguably summed it up best.
…