RB Leipzig vs Celtic LIVE: Champions League result, score and reaction as Silva scores twice as Leipzig win
RB Leipzig 3-1 Celtic: Bhoys drops to the bottom of Champions League Group F with defeat in Germany
RB Leipzig earned their first Champions League points this season after a quickfire double from Andre Silva and Christopher Nkunku’s first-half strike sealed a 3-1 home win over Celtic.
Nkunku twice raced clear to find the net - his first attempt was ruled a fraction offside after a VAR check but the Frenchman made amends in the 27th minute, poking the ball past the advancing Joe Hart and slotting home from a tight angle.
The visitors got off to the perfect start in the second half, drawing level after two minutes when Furuhashi held off three Leipzig defenders before laying the ball off to Jota who scored with a composed finish.
Celtic got another reprieve from VAR when Dominik Szoboszlai’s superb long-range effort was ruled out just after the hour mark but Silva capitalised on a poor pass from goalkeeper Hart seconds later to restore Leipzig’s lead. Silva calmly fired past Hart again in the 77th minute after Celtic were undone by a long diagonal pass from Nkunku, which Mohamed Simakan met with a cushioned volley to the Portuguese striker.
Relive all the action as Celtic lose to RB Leipzig in the Champions League group stages:
RB Leipzig vs Celtic
Celtic have never won an away European match in Germany in 13 previous attempts with three draws and 10 defeats. They have failed to score in nine of those games and scored just six goals in total.
RB Leipzig vs Celtic
RB Leipzig have faced Celtic twice previously, doing so in the 2018/19 Europa League group stage. Leipzig won 2-0 at home but lost 2-1 away.
Who will come out on top tonight?
European Super League can revive ‘sick’ football says Real Madrid president
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez believes football is “sick” and claimed resurrecting the European Super League project would be one way to restore its health.
The Spanish giants were one of a dozen clubs in April last year who signed up to a proposed breakaway league, which collapsed following backlash from supporters once the idea came into the public domain.
While the six English sides withdrew, Real, along with Barcelona and Juventus, refused to renounce the ESL, which Perez reiterated his support for at his club’s annual general meeting on Sunday.
European Super League can revive ‘sick’ football says Real Madrid president
Florentino Perez reiterated his support for the proposed breakaway league at his club’s annual general meeting on Sunday.
‘We’ll give it 100%'
RB Leipzig midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai spoke in the build-up to tonight’s match and promised that his team with give it their all this evening.
"We’ll give 100% tomorrow.” he said, “Even though we don’t have any points on the board yet, we still have a chance of progressing.
"What happened against Shakhtar [a 4-1 loss] is behind us now. That taught us that we have to be fully committed in every game, regardless of who the opposition is. We want to show that tomorrow."
Celtic in Germany
Celtic have failed to win any of their 13 games on German soil. Can they end that torrid run tonight?
Celtic team changes
Ange Postecoglou sticks with the same side that started against Motherwell at the weekend, with Stephen Welsh continuing at centre-back for the injured Cameron Carter-Vickers.
There are two changes from their last Champions League game against Shakhter Donetsk with Welsh and Daizen Maeda starting instead of Carter-Vickers and Saed Haksabanovic.
RB Leizig vs Celtic confirmed line-ups
RB Leipzig XI: Gulacsi; Simakan, Orban, Gvadriol, Raum; Kampl, Schlager; Szoboszlai, Nkunku, Werner; Andre Silva
Celtic XI: Hart; Juranovic, Welsh, Jenz, Taylor; O’Riley, McGregor, Hatate; Maeda, Furuhashi, Jota
RB Leipzig vs Celtic
Tonight’s venue is the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Germany. Celtic really need to pick up three points if they have any hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Carter-Vickers absence doesn’t change anything
Ange Postecoglou says that Cameron Carter-Vickers’ absence tonight due to injury isn’t going to change the way the team plays despite the American defender being one of the best players in the squad this year.
"It doesn’t change the way we play," said the Celtic boss. "But they all have their own strengths and different ways of contributing to the team.
"But from our perspective, the structure stays the same. [Carter-Vickers] He’s been out for a few games now. Our concentration has been on the guys ready and fit to go.”
RB Leipzig vs Celtic
These sides have contrasting histories in Europe’s elite club competition. Celtic’s Lisbon Lions famously lifted the trophy in 1967 and the Scottish side have 216 games under their belts.
Leipzig on the other hand did not make their Champions League bow until 2017 and this is the German side’s fourth campaign in all. They reached the semis in 2019/20.
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