Celtic secured a crucial 3-1 away victory over Feyenoord in the Europa League, coming from behind to keep their hopes of reaching the play-offs alive.
Reo Hatate played a starring role, scoring once and assisting another as Martin O’Neill’s side bounced back after conceding early.
Celtic started the match brightly and almost took the lead within the first 10 minutes when a corner fell to Luke McCowan, only for his effort to cannon off the crossbar.
Feyenoord capitalised on the miss shortly after, as Sem Steijn broke the offside trap to find Ayase Ueda, who calmly slotted a low shot past Kasper Schmeichel and in off the right post.
Celtic responded before the half-hour mark, with Yang Hyun-Jun volleying home a looping cross from Hatate to level the score.
Schmeichel then denied Ueda on a subsequent chance, before Hatate put Celtic ahead in the 43rd minute. Daizen Maeda’s pressure forced a poor backpass from Timon Wellenreuther, which Hatate tucked neatly into the empty net.
Feyenoord continued to search for an equaliser, with Gaoussou Diarra hitting the crossbar from a header and Robin van Persie introducing his son Shaqueel to spark their attack.
But Celtic sealed the win moments later when substitute Benjamin Nygren fired in a third goal from Maeda’s pullback, marking their first away win in Europe in over four years and moving them up to 17th in the table.
Before this clash, Celtic had struggled to score in the Europa League, netting just once from open play. Yet, they were clinical on Thursday, converting three of their four shots on target, all from open play, despite posting just 1.15 expected goals (xG). Feyenoord, meanwhile, created seven big chances, with four falling to Ueda, but were unable to mount a comeback.
