FC Utrecht suffer sixth straight defeat as Celtic claim Europa League win in Glasgow
FC Utrecht finished their UEFA Europa League campaign with a loss on Thursday. Ron Jans’ side were beaten 4-2 by Celtic in Glasgow, which tops off an abysmal European campaign for the side. Utrecht’s goals were scored by Dani de Wit and Adrien Blake.
Utrecht knew prior to the game that they were knocked out of the competition, having picked up just one point out of seven games. Nick Viergever was given a starting spot by Jans, the team captain had been left out of the side that lost to Sparta Rotterdam at the weekend, to his chagrin.
It was a truly dreadful start to the game from Jans’ side. Celtic got their first goal of the game in the sixth minute. A corner was taken short and eventually fired across the goal by Kieran Tierney to a completely unmarked Benjamin Nygren to tap home from close range.
It got worse for Utrecht a few minutes later. Goalkeeper Vasilias Barkas played a pass straight to Nygren, and his pass towards Daizen Maeda was already set for an open goal before Viergever knocked it in while trying to clear the ball.
The atrocious start was not finished yet as Celtic made it 3-0 in the 17th minute. Although Utrecht could hardly be blamed on this occasion. U.S. defender Austin Trusty headed the ball onto the arm of Dani de Wit from point-blank range, and this was given as a penalty after a VAR review. Arne Engels took the penalty and scored it with aplomb.
It is the earliest that a Dutch side has gone 3-0 down since 1979, when PSV conceded three against Saint Etienne within five minutes. For Celtic, it was their earlier 2-0 lead and then 3-0 lead they have ever had in a major European game.
Utrecht got a goal back before halftime. De Wit made up for the penalty by curling the ball around the Celtic defence and into the near corner after he had been played in by Niklas Vesterlund.
Vesterlund almost added a goal to his assist before halftime when his header towards goal was knocked wide by Celtic keeper Kasper Schmeichel.
Utrecht got its second goal in the 62nd minute. A good crisp attack from inside their own half led to Gijval Zechiel playing a pass to Adrien Blake in between the Celtic defense. The Englishman hit an early shot which went in via the hands of Schmeichel.
Celtic, who needed at least a draw to advance to the play-off round, scored their fourth goal three minutes later. A corner from Engels was headed into the far corner by Trusty.
The defeat is Utrecht’s sixth in a row. It is the first time the club has ever lost six games in a row in a single season. They have won two of their last 15 games, against Ajax and second division side TOP Oss.
