Celta Vigo rally to beat Celtic 2-1 in Europa League

Celta Vigo came from a goal down to beat Celtic 2-1 at Celtic Park in Glasgow on Thursday night, with defender Javi Rodriguez scoring twice in the space of four minutes in a Europa League league-phase match.

The first half finished without a goal. Celtic took the lead two minutes into the second half, when Mika Baur shot from the centre of the box into the bottom corner, and the home side came close to a second on several occasions as the match went on, according to Spanish outlet El Diario Alerta.

Celta responded in the 68th minute. Hugo Alvarez delivered a cross from a set piece and Rodriguez met it with a diving header from the centre of the box to level the score. Four minutes later, in the 71st, he struck again, this time with a right-footed shot from outside the box that found the bottom right corner and put the Spanish club ahead for good.

A crowd of 48,374 watched the match. It was the first win of the league phase for Celta, who arrived without a point after their first two matches and now have three. Celtic have yet to win in the competition after three matches, a run that left manager Martin O’Neill, in comments reported by Scottish media, searching for a first European victory.

The result was part of a strong night for Spanish clubs, with Real Sociedad also winning, 6-0 in Norway. Real Sociedad crushed Lillestrom while elsewhere in the competition Bournemouth beat 10-man AC Milan 3-0 and Crystal Palace were held 2-2 at Besiktas.

Via ESPN and El Diario Alerta.

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