Celtic sunk by Ferencvaros as slump deepens before Rangers derby
Celtic started their Europa League campaign with a defeat to Ferencvaros, conceding three goals just days after losing to Rangers at Ibrox.
The Hungarian side won in Glasgow on Thursday night. It left Celtic with back-to-back defeats in the week before another derby against Rangers at Celtic Park on Sunday, according to BBC Sport.
The first half told a strange story. Celtic had 62.5% possession, which simply means they held the ball for almost two-thirds of the time, yet they trailed 2-1 at the break. They kept the ball. They did not do enough with it.
It got worse after the restart. Celtic fell 3-1 behind at one stage before the night closed out as another heavy home loss. Up front, Camilo Duran got the nod through the middle ahead of Kasper Hogh and managed only eight touches of the ball.
This was not a one-off. Celtic had already conceded five goals against LASK before the Ibrox defeat and this latest loss. Manager Martin O'Neill had said beforehand that Celtic wanted to kick off the Europa League, Europe's second-tier club competition, with a win, according to Celtic FC.
Afterwards, O'Neill did not hide. He spoke of frustration, failure and psychological damage, and promised his players would "get ourselves together" for Rangers on Sunday, according to BBC Sport.
The verdict from the BBC's analysis was blunt. It described O'Neill's post-match comments as mirroring his team's display — "leaden, stale, disheartening". It added that keeping faith in O'Neill's capacity to drag Celtic through this slump was becoming testing for supporters.
What makes this stand out is the speed of the slide. Three games ago the talk was of a fresh European start. Now the noise is different. Sunday brings Rangers to Celtic Park, and ninety minutes that will set the mood for both sets of fans.
