Although Utrecht gave Celtic four minutes of concern in the second half after narrowing the gap to one goal, the Scottish champions thoroughly deserved to win a game that will be remembered for some unusual goals.
Three of Celtic’s goals came from corner kick moves. The opening goal came from the second phase after a corner, when Kieran Tierney, still on the right, hit the bye-line and fired the ball into the six yard box, where the ever-alert Benjamin Nygren was on hand to knock it in to the net.
Oh Vasilis! Barkas’ return to Celtic Park clearly kicked off some PTSD in the former Celtic goalkeeper. Under no great pressure from Daizen Maeda, his sideways pass was intercepted by that man Nygren. Utrecht’s defensive misery continued as the resultant cross was turned into his own net by central defender Viergever.
There were muted shouts for a handball penalty at an Arne Engels corner on 18 minutes but play continued for a significant period before VAR called the referee to the monitor. Engels made no mistake with the resultant kick.
Despite missing the penalty, the Finnish referee was a major plus to the proceedings. Scottish football rewards players who fall to the ground after any physical contact. This was hugely evident in our game at Tynecastle on Sunday and is a tactic used by many teams against Celtic. Mohammed Al Emara was having none of this last night. He made it clear that falling to earn cheap free kicks would not be rewarded. As a consequence, the game flowed and was a more entertaining spectacle. More of this, please.
Kasper Schmeichel could do nothing about Utrecht’s first goal – a free shot into the corner of the net from inside the D which left him unsighted. Their second also found the corner of the net but the lack of pace on the ball and distance travelled gave the keeper time to make the save.
Moments later Auston Trusty calmed proceedings with a fine header at another Celtic corner.
Yesterday we discussed Utrecht persistently out-performing opponents on expected goals, even when losing. Not so last night, two goals flattered their 0.46 XG. They were well beaten.
Germany Again
Stuttgart are not Bayern Munich but are by far the more difficult of our potential play off opponents. Goal difference is all that keeps them out of a Champions League qualification spot in the Bundesliga.
Their Europa League campaign got of to a stuttering start. A win over Celta Vito was followed by defeats at Basel and Fenerbahce, they have won four of their remaining five games, over Feyenoord, Go Ahead Eagles, Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Young Boys. A loss at Roma in between was no embarrassment.
Plenty of football to be played before then.
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Its deeply comforting memories that any “crunch” 4-2 win at Parkhead brings back to some of us.
Keep well Murdo. Thank you.
Rest in peace Mr McNeill, Mr Clarke, Mr Mochan, Mr Rooney, Mr Edvaldsson.
Gallant unforgettable Heroes.
Thank you.
Now for some signings
wow
New signings urgently needed?
Bugger. Was hoping for Ferencvaros.
At least we won’t have to worry about more distracting EL KO games after this tie.-.
Fritzsong on 30th January 2026 12:33 pm
When asked to offer his prediction before the game, the BBC’s English offered a quite astonishing prognosis – ‘You can’t trust them.’ The ‘them’ was Celtic. Michael Grant, recently celebrated here, penned a sour and grudging match report. Meanwhile, that other journal of record, the Daily Record, managed to contrive the argument that R2ngers’ defeat would boost their chances of the title.
If you allegedly support Celtic but cannot take joy out of a win in Europe then it would be better all round for you to find a new hobby.
I despair.
New signings.
If you believe Celts Are Here (whomever the feck they are) we are in for a French winger from a team in 15th place in the Italian 2nd division and they want 7m euros for him.
WTAF!
Not only did the referee not fall for the obvious attempts to win free kicks – which were in fact far fewer from Utrecht than from our SPFL rivals, but in Scotland we would never have got that penalty, while our opponents would have.
European games frequently remind us of what we are up against re Beaton, Dallas, McLean, Dickinson, Aitken etc.
There are only 12 grade 1 refs in Scotland, apart from Collum who is unavailable. Nearly half are indisputably huns. Some of the others may be, while Walsh works for their feeder school.
A scandal anywhere but here. What do our custodians do about it? Nothing that I can see.
Why did the guy in Nyon say at the end that the games would be played on 13 and 20 Feb which are both Fridays? Everybody else says 29 and 26 Feb. Did he make a mistake?
Confusedcsc
Played quite well against German clubs last season, but a tough draw and no mistake.
We’ll be a bit stronger with our two loanees available, Seracci too I guess. Good to see Kellachi get some game time last night, lets hope he can stay fit through the rest of the season, made a bit of an impact. If I had to choose, I would try and bring in another centre back and another central midfielder, strengthen there and our prospects look a whole lot better.
Happy St Aldegunais Day! Ave Ave
Petition:
One Celtic. Back our Board, our Players, and Manager.
https://c.org/KFpKd6pRQJ
Welcome to Celtic Fares
https://youtu.be/EFsWXPWFR2I?si=4psTLnsoaDM40ayZ
HH
P67
“Scottish football rewards players who fall to the ground after any physical contact”
should of course read:-
“ Scottish football rewards players who fall to the ground after any physical contact from a Celtic player”
You can thank me later.
Of course any European progression should be welcomed, but finishing 57th in the overall hierarchy is hardly something to celebrate. We should surely be aspiring to more ambitious levels.
GlassTwoThirdsFull on 30th January 2026 1:07 pm
We can aspire all we like . Unless the board and Desmond share our aspiration , things are unlikely to improve . Desmonds offspring more or less told us so .
I think that the reason for us arguably playing better in Europe than domestically is down to the referee having no favourtism in the match!!
Fact!!
https://share.google/vg52W59FhANtNH7dd
Heard he’s signed, €6.5 million quoted
I had a look at the Europa League table and counted 7 teams who are previous winners of “The Big Cup” and two others who made the final and lost.
I realise that it’s all history – but if the expectations are that Celtic will qualify for CL football every season while there are qualifiers to play, then you are deluded.
This season has been defined by the unmitigated disaster around the summer transfer window and the loss to Kairat Aklmaty – but realistically, competing properly in the Europa League with the occasional foray into the CL is our future – get used to it.
I for one would love to see us win the Europa League in my lifetime. I still remember the joy of going to Seville and watching the final, albeit ending in disappointment.
If your attitude is ‘CL only and everything else is a failure’ then I think you are in for a disappointing future.
Celtic v Hibs moved to Sunday 22 February
Vale bhoy
Hi mate.you will need to stop the clickbait sites ploughing your brain.they do not know anymore than you or I.
You do know a lot of these shites are extension arms of the same craven media fritzsong refers to in his post.
In old parlance if shouting at the teletext.
Keep the heid mate
HH
Its
Its shotin
GlassTwoThirdsFull on 30th January 2026 1:07 pm
Of course any European progression should be welcomed, but finishing 57th in the overall hierarchy is hardly something to celebrate. We should surely be aspiring to more ambitious levels
————
I agree. However ” even the longest march begins with a single step”
Last night was progress in European football.
Chinacsc
Looks like a bit of alright.
Thanks for posting this.
With Mr MON in the dugout unexpected miracles might be on the way.
An Tearmann on 30th January 2026 12:54 pm
Welcome to Celtic Fares
https://youtu.be/EFsWXPWFR2I?si=4psTLnsoaDM40ayZ
“We won” or “we won but …” ?
Personal choice I suppose.
I think we will spend money on one player. The rest will be loans. (1-2) loans of players who have not been playing since last year.
Nicholson and co careers will end if they don’t back MON. There will be carnage in parkhead , absolute carnage.
Prob why no talks with GB have taken place.
An Tearmann
You’re absolutely correct.
I’m scouring sites looking for good news.
Some of the stuff is absolutely gyff.
I’ll try to avoid them.
I, too, would have preferred Ferencvaros.
We’ll see.
Martin was very cute post match reminding the world that weve gone to the Netherlands and Italy on his watch already and got results.
From memory, the results in the play offs are factored into coefficient calculations for country but not club.
stebhoy
I must disagree regarding Nicholson and co’s careers ending.
These feckers always land on their feet.
He’ll slip back into the legal world and continue to bask in his own conceit.
BB – his name has been linked to us for a while, it seems a lot of money for someone in the Italian B league? And 2-3 million more than we would need to pay Motherwell for their right winger who Martin was apparently wanting . . .
B2B
or we won and…
We need some straight down the line, character building, Chinese schools in Scotland, Yookay, Ireland, EU, etc.
More Ip Man, less wee man.
Maybe MON could unearth some Chinese diamond level players.
How good would Du Wei have turned out if it was MON who was his boss instead of PLC favorite WGS?
“In China, primary school students take a collective oath before the winter vacation. They promise not to upset their parents, actively do housework like washing dishes, finish their homework on time, and develop good habits during the holiday. It’s cute and heartwarming!”
https://x.com/HuntersCoke/status/2017214103652110395#m
spikeysauldmhan
Have you recovered from our er victory last night….?
Despite missing the penalty, the Finnish referee was a major plus to the proceedings. Scottish football rewards players who fall to the ground after any physical contact. This was hugely evident in our game at Tynecastle on Sunday and is a tactic used by many teams against Celtic. Mohammed Al Emara was having none of this last night. He made it clear that falling to earn cheap free kicks would not be rewarded. As a consequence, the game flowed and was a more entertaining spectacle. More of this, please.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Something I also noticed last night was the number of times one of our players was fouled and he played advantage. He waited a few seconds and if we no longer had advantage or in some cases lost the ball he brought it back for a free kick, this NEVER happens in Scotland.
Celtic player is fouled, referee plays advantage, ball is lost almost immediately, play on! He was also a breath of fresh air for a European tie referee, as we’ve had some right numphties in this season’s Europa.
Another epic semi final at the tennis
Stuggart will be a big ask there’s no question.
We did extremely well last season and punched above our weight getting a draw against Munich (who had already beaten us at Celtic park). That game in Munich also came between repeated defeats against newco and a defeat in the Scottish cup final against Aberdeen. We had some great players for those games too, idah, kuhn, Johnston, ccv, etc.
Still we have MoN now as interim manager, which is a huge upgrade to last season. We can still progress.
Djokovic is an incredible competitor
“Four police officers injured before Celtic v Utrecht match”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cedwj11q1x0o