Celtic's Europa League campaign has taken a heavy blow after a 4-1 defeat to Benfica in Lisbon, leaving the Scottish side with zero points from their first two matches and sitting third bottom of the standings. Despite the scoreline, Benfica's Alexander Bah, who scored the second goal, insisted the game was not as easy as it looked.
Celtic conceded three goals in the opening 23 minutes of the first half, with Martin O'Neill's side unable to recover. Bah, however, pointed to Celtic's second-half display as evidence of their quality.
Bah praises Celtic's battling display
"You could see Celtic's quality in the second half. Although the scoreline was 4-1 to us, I certainly didn't think it was an easy game," Bah said. "In the first half, we just tried to play our game and we did that very well. I think you have to praise the whole team for that performance in the first half. Even the strikers were working hard to close Celtic down."
He added: "But I believe we can still play better. It was nice to get another goal but I don't think Jhon Duran has anything to worry about from me in the top scorers' charts!"
Celta Vigo eye first win in Glasgow
Celtic's next opponents, Celta Vigo, are also without a point after two matches, having suffered a 1-0 loss to Omonoia and a late defeat to Juventus. Celta defender Yoel Lago is determined to change that when his side travels to Glasgow.
"We now know we have to win in Glasgow to try and get to the next round and we will be giving 100 per cent to beat Celtic," Lago stated. "Juventus are a great team and we matched them all the way. It was a heartbreaking way to lose so late in the game. But I am very proud of the way we played and competed with them."
Celta players and manager eye turning point
Teammate Javi Rueda echoed that confidence, saying: "We need to get our first European win in Glasgow. And I think we can if we play as we did against Juventus. I believe this could be the turning point of our season because we have a very tough month coming up."
Celta manager Claudio Giraldez added: "The Europa League has started cruelly for us - we didn't deserve to lose to Juventus. We have now lost both games because of two very late goals. We went toe-to-toe with a legendary European team and will take a lot from this."
