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Celtic goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo reacts after conceding the first goal of the game. Alamy Stock Photo
From The 42Europa League
Mixed fortunes for Irish stars as Celtic suffer night to forget against Ferencváros
It was a difficult night for Liam Scales while Callum O’Dowda featured off the bench for the visitors.
Updated at 22.50
Europa League results:
- Levski Sofia 0-1 RB Salzburg
- OFI Crete 2-0 Hoffenheim
- Besiktas 4-1 Marseille
- Celtic 1-3 Ferencváros
- Crystal Palace 4-0 Lech Poznan
- Juventus 5-0 NEC Nijmegen
- Lillestrom 1-2 Torreense
- Real Sociedad 1-2 Bournemouth
- Plzen 0-3 R Union SG
FERENCVÁROS PILED ON the misery for Celtic with a 3-1 win in their Europa League opener at Parkhead.
Sunday’s bruising 3-0 Premier Sports Cup defeat to Rangers had stunned Martin O’Neill’s side, who fell behind in the 20th minute when winger Bamidele Yusuf’s shot deflected off defender Liam Scales and into the net.
Midfielder Mika Baur swept in an equaliser in the 44th minute, but before the half-time whistle blew, captain Kristoffer Zachariassen restored the Hungarian side’s lead.
Former Celtic forward Daniel Arzani fired in a stunning 20-yard drive in the 47th minute and Balazs Borbely’s side comfortably kept their lead intact.
O’Neill shuffled his side, with Viljami Sinisalo replacing on-loan goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, who had looked shaky in Govan.
Record signing Kasper Hogh was dropped for striker Camilo Duran to move in from the wing, with wide men James Forrest and Haissem Hassan coming in along with midfielder Oliver Sorensen.
The visitors started sprightly, Yusuf brilliantly blocking a goal-bound shot from Forrest, and there were a couple of near misses from Duran and Forrest, again.
In the 18th minute, Zachariassen headed a Yusuf cross over the crossbar to hint at the danger to come, and two minutes later, when the Nigerian decided to shoot from the edge of the Hoops’ penalty area, the ball was inadvertently redirected by Scales past the stranded Sinisalo.
Sinisalo dived smartly down to his right to push away a shot from Zachariassen for a 23rd-minute corner which came to nothing, and then a dangerous cross bounced off Mariano Gomez into the arms of the Celtic keeper.
In response, a drive from Celtic captain Callum McGregor was deflected wide for another Hoops corner which proved fruitless.
The home side did level when left-back Kieran Tierney drove into the box and cut the ball back for Baur, handed his first Germany call-up this week, to fire in from 12 yards, and it looked like Celtic would have a chance to regroup at the break.
However, in added time, Yusuf dribbled all too easily into the Celtic penalty area and set up Zachariassen to flick the ball in from close range with defenders Scales and Cameron Carter-Vickers in close attendance.
Hogh replaced Sorensen for the start of the second half to go with a front two, but before the crowd settled, a Scales mistake ended with Yusuf sending Arzani clear down the left and after turning inside to the edge of the box, he fired high into the top corner.
Benjamin Nygren and Sebastian Tounekti replaced Forrest and Hassan, soon followed by Luke McCowan, as O’Neill tried another way into a match that was drifting.
Celtic pepped up, and in the 69th minute Nygren came close with a curling shot, and Tounekti had an effort parried away by keeper Adam Varga, whose mistake allowed Nygren a shot at an empty goal from 30 yards, but he missed the target.
It is on to Sunday now for Celtic, who will try to win back the favour of their fed-up fans against their oldest rivals.
Meanwhile, Juventus began their quest for Europa League glory with a 5-0 thrashing of NEC Nijmegen, while Bournemouth secured an impressive victory at Real Sociedad on their European debut on Thursday.
In addition, Crystal Palace were 4-0 winners over Lech Poznan.
Juventus expect to be competing among Europe’s elite in the Champions League, but the failure to qualify last season has at least allowed them the chance to end a 30-year wait for a continental trophy.
The Italian giants were far too strong for their Dutch visitors in Turin as Nico Gonzalez, Kerim Alajbegovic and Nick Woltemade, with his first goal since joining on loan from Newcastle, made it 3-0 before half-time.
Zeki Celik and Randal Kolo Muani rounded off the scoring after the break as Juventus made a better start than rivals AC Milan, who lost 2-0 to Benfica in the pick of Wednesday’s Europa League action.
Bournemouth had a dream start to their first-ever European adventure with a 2-1 win in San Sebastián.
Justin Kluivert opened the scoring before Rayan headed in at the back post to put the Cherries 2-0 up inside 20 minutes.
Blowing leads has been a recurrence for Marco Rose’s team in the early weeks of the season.
Rose is yet to taste victory in the Premier League despite Bournemouth going ahead in all four matches so far this season.
Sergio Gomez’s attempted cross flew into the far corner to bring Sociedad back into the contest, but this time Bournemouth held on for a memorable victory.
Conference League winners last season, Palace proved far too strong for Lech Poznan to complete a clean sweep of eight victories for the English sides in Champions and Europa League action so far this season.
Yeremy Pino pounced on a calamitous Poznan throw-in to open the scoring at Selhurst Park.
Chris Richards added a second before Jørgen Strand Larsen’s penalty made it 3-0 and Eddie Nketiah rounded off the scoring.
Besiktas inflicted a fourth consecutive defeat on Marseille with a 4-1 win in Istanbul.
Vaclav Cerny, Michael Amir Murillo and Ernest Poku struck in the second half after Keyliane Abdallah had cancelled out Ilhan Fakili’s opener for the Turkish side.
Additional reporting by AFP
Written by Press Association and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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