Celtic had a nightmare first half in the Europa League as they conceded three goals to Roma, making Wilfried Nancy the first Celtic manager ever to lose his first two games. After losing to Hearts in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday, things got even worse when Liam Scales accidentally headed the ball into his own net early on.
Roma then piled on the pressure, with Celtic fan Evan Ferguson scoring twice to put the match out of reach before half-time. Arne Engels even hit the post with a penalty in stoppage time, highlighting just how poor Celtic were. The home crowd reacted with sarcastic cheers for Roma and loud boos for their own team as Celtic walked off at half-time.
The second half didn’t bring more goals against Celtic, but Roma stayed in control. Both Leon Bailey for Roma and Kelechi Iheanacho for Celtic had goals ruled out by VAR. The defeat seriously damaged Celtic’s chances of reaching the knockout stage, leaving Nancy’s team just barely in the qualification spots with two games left.
Celtic were undone by how easily Roma cut through them and how often they lost the ball under pressure. Scales’ own goal came after only six minutes, and Ferguson’s two goals were the result of Roma exploiting the wide areas with simple attacking play. Nancy stood on the sidelines with arms folded, making no changes until half-time, when he brought on Colby Donovan, Paulo Bernardo and Iheanacho.
The subs improved Celtic slightly, making them more solid at the back and more dangerous up front, but it wasn’t enough. Roma cruised to another win in Glasgow, following their 2-0 victory at Ibrox earlier in the competition.
