The boos at full-time told their own story. Same stadium, same problems, same questions.
Four days after an Old Firm collapse, Celtic walked straight into another. A 3-1 home defeat to Ferencvaros in their Europa League opener did not just sting; it underlined, in brutal detail, how brittle Martin O'Neill’s side have become without the ball.
They started brightly. They often do.
James Forrest, looking like the Forrest of five years ago, tore into Ferencvaros down the left and almost set the tone inside eight minutes. His cross found Camilo Duran, who took a touch too many and dragged his finish past the post. Celtic had the ball, the territory, the noise.
Then they had a familiar problem.
On 20 minutes, Kieran Tierney misjudged a cross and failed to clear. The ball broke to Bamidele Yusuf, whose effort was heading on target before clipping Liam Scales and spinning beyond Viljami Sinisalo. Another goal conceded from a situation Celtic should have handled. Another defensive lapse punished.
Ferencvaros sensed uncertainty. Daniel Arzani drove at Cameron Carter-Vickers soon after, only for Sinisalo to bail Celtic out with a sharp low stop. Haissem Hassan then arrived late at the back post but was denied by Cadu’s recovery, before Callum McGregor saw a deflected strike whistle past the upright. The home side kept probing, but anxiety lingered every time the visitors crossed halfway.
Just when Celtic needed a break, they found one.
With half-time looming, Tierney redeemed himself with a driven cross from the left and Mika Baur met it with conviction, thundering the ball into the net. Celtic Park erupted. Level at 1-1, momentum finally seemed to swing their way.
It lasted barely a minute.
Straight from the restart, Ferencvaros went for the throat. Yusuf bullied his way past Tierney, McGregor hesitated fatally in his own box, and Kristoffer Zachariassen darted in to flick the ball past Sinisalo. From parity to panic in seconds. The defending was slack, the punishment ruthless.
If the first half exposed Celtic’s soft underbelly, the second half ripped it wide open.
Within two minutes of the restart, the hosts coughed up possession cheaply in their own half. Colby Donovan, fresh from his first Scotland call-up and eager to impress, was caught out. Arzani pounced, stepped inside and unleashed a vicious strike that screamed into the top corner. A stunning finish, but again born from Celtic’s carelessness.
At 3-1 down, Celtic were left chasing shadows and chasing the game. Ferencvaros, organised and streetwise, dropped into shape and waited for mistakes. O'Neill’s side had the ball, but rarely the answers.
There were half-chances. Carter-Vickers picked out Duran, who whipped in a dangerous cross that Kasper Høgh just failed to reach. Benjamin Nygren curled narrowly wide. Sebastian Tounekti forced Adam Varga into a strong save, then Nygren tried to catch the goalkeeper off his line from distance but cleared the bar.
None of it shifted the mood. The damage had been done much earlier, in moments where Celtic simply failed to do the basics.
By the final whistle, swathes of seats had emptied. Those who stayed made their feelings unmistakable. The boos were loud, raw and aimed at a team that keeps repeating the same errors.
O'Neill, who promised a reaction after the League Cup defeat to Rangers, made four changes from that loss. It did not matter. The patterns remained. Celtic’s big summer signings, Duran and Høgh among them, are still waiting for a defining night in green and white. For now, they look like part of the problem rather than the solution.
The manager admitted he is still searching for his best XI. Time, though, is not his friend. Two defeats in a row, both at Celtic Park, with another Old Firm clash looming on Sunday. The league table offers some comfort – Celtic will stay top of the Premiership going into the international break regardless of what happens against Rangers – but that statistic feels flimsy against the reality on the pitch.
This was billed as a European reset after domestic disappointment. Instead, it felt like a continuation of the same storyline: encouraging spells of possession, flashes of attacking promise, undone by lapses of concentration and poor decision-making at the back.
O’Neill called it “a European lesson”. The supporters called it something else, loudly and clearly, as the players disappeared down the tunnel.
Celtic will walk out against Rangers still leading the league. The question now is whether they still look like a team capable of staying there once the pressure really starts to bite.
