Feyenoord finish their Champions League campaign with a loss against Celtic

A late winning goal by Celtic ensured that Feyenoord finished their UEFA Champions League campaign with a 2-1 loss. Yankuba Minteh scored the solitary goal for the Rotterdammers at Celtic Park in Glasgow. A late goal by Gustaf Lagerbielke won the match for Brendan Rodgers's side after Luis Palma had scored a penalty in the first half.

Arne Slot gave Thomas Beelen a starting place at centre-back. The 22-year-old replaced Gernot Trauner at the heart of the defence. It was Beelen's first minutes in the Champions League this season. Feyenoord could not qualify for the last 16 and could not be caught by Celtic for the Europa League spot, meaning that this match was only for pride.

Celtic had the first chance of the match after 16 minutes played. Centre half Liam Scales found Kyogo Furuhashi behind the backline with a long through ball. Feyenoord goalkeeper Justin Bijlow stopped the Japanese striker's shot.

Feyenoord's first chance of the match also fell to their striker. Igor Paixao flicked the ball on to Santiago Gimenez, who was one-on-one with Joe Hart in the Celtic goal, but the Mexican striker was not precise enough with his finish as he hit the stomach of the English goalkeeper.

The home team was awarded a penalty two minutes after the chance. Referee Benoit Bastien from France pointed the spot when Ramiz Zerrouki was judged to have fouled Scales when the corner was taken.

Slot's side hit the post right before halftime. Captain Lutsharel Geertruida came forward from right back and was found in the box by a deft pass from Luka Ivanusec. Hart deflected Geertruida's toe-poked effort onto the goalpost.

Bijlow made a terrific save shortly after halftime to stop Palma from getting his second of the match from close range.

The reigning Eredivisie champions equalized after 82 minutes. Gimenez chipped the ball into the penalty area towards substitute Thomas van den Belt, who had smartly spotted that Yankuba Minteh was completely unmarked behind him. Van den Belt let the ball run to Minteh, who finished the opportunity before celebrating in front of the traveling fans.

Celtic had not won a match in the Champions League this season before tonight, and it showed in the way they pushed for a winning goal in the closing stages. Celtic captain Callum McGregor smashed a shot against the crossbar from distance in the 88th minute.

And they succeeded in getting their first win in the second minute of injury time. Midfielder Matt O'Riley took full advantage of Gimenez missing a header by putting in a brilliant cross to Swedish defender Gustaf Lagerbielke, who only had to head the ball home from close range, sending the 58 thousand Celtic fans in the stadium into wild celebrations.

Feyenoord will find out their next opponents in the Europa League on the 18th of December at the draw in Nyon, Switzerland. The Rotterdammers play their last Eredivisie match of 2023 on Sunday, away to Heracles.