Celtic Falls To Braga 0-2 As Ricardo Horta's Stunning Goal Piles Pressure On Board

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A remarkable long-range goal by Ricardo Horta led Braga to a 2-0 win over Celtic in the Europa League, increasing pressure on the Scottish champions. Initially, Celtic fans planned a silent protest due to dissatisfaction with the team's investment. However, they called it off after the board agreed to meet with a key supporters' group. This defeat adds to the challenges faced by Celtic's management.

In the opening moments, Celtic showed promise as Sebastian Tounekti and Kieran Tierney combined well on the left flank. Tounekti tested Lukas Hornicek with a powerful shot after 13 minutes. Despite this early pressure, Horta broke the deadlock with an impressive strike. Receiving a simple pass from Jean-Baptiste Gorby, Horta unleashed a powerful shot towards the top-right corner, which Kasper Schmeichel could only deflect into the side-netting.

Celtic attempted to regain control in the second half and believed they had equalised before the hour mark. However, Kelechi Iheanacho's effort was disallowed for handball after an extensive VAR review. Both Tierney and Tounekti came close to scoring, but Hornicek made two excellent saves to maintain Braga's lead. The visitors secured victory when Dane Murray's clearance was intercepted by Gabri Martinez, who scored in the process.

This result leaves Celtic without a win in their last three matches. They previously drew against Red Star Belgrade in their Europa League opener last month. In this match, Celtic struggled offensively, producing just 0.65 expected goals (xG) from three shots on target compared to Braga's 1.05 from six attempts.

Despite Celtic's struggles, Sebastian Tounekti delivered an encouraging performance. The Tunisian winger recorded the most shots (three), most touches in the box (13), completed seven out of 11 dribbles, and won 10 of his 22 duels during the match. However, Brendan Rodgers' team continues to face challenges in attack.

Celtic has failed to score in five of their 12 games across all competitions this season. This is as many times as they went goalless throughout their entire 2024-25 campaign of 57 matches. It's also their quickest run of five goalless games since the 1991-92 season when they reached this mark after just 12 games.

Horta's performance places him among elite company in Europa League history. He joins Bruno Fernandes (27 goals, 19 assists), Dries Mertens (18 goals, 18 assists), and Andriy Yarmolenko (15 goals, 10 assists) as one of four players to achieve at least 15 goals and 10 assists since the competition began in its current format in 2009-10.