Celtic's alarming European slide continues

Celtic's lead evaporates again

Celtic went ahead at Parkhead and could not hold it, with Celta Vigo turning the game around to win 2-1, according to the Guardian. It is the kind of collapse that would sting on its own. Stacked against losses to Ferencvaros and Benfica earlier in the league phase, it starts to look less like bad luck and more like a problem Martin O'Neill has not solved.

Three defeats from however many games played is a grim return for a club with Celtic's European ambitions, and the format offers no hiding place: lose your opening fixtures in the new league-phase system and the group drops away fast.

Sunderland hold firm in Poznań

Elsewhere, Sunderland came away from Poznań with a point, drawing 1-1 away from home. It is a tidier result for Régis Le Bris, whose side sit 20th in the Premier League with four points from seven matches and a goal difference of minus eight domestically. A European point on the road, even a scrappy one, is the kind of thing a struggling squad can build a week around.

Sunderland's Premier League numbers make grim reading on their own: one win, one draw and five defeats since the season began. The Stadium of Light crowd have not had much to shout about domestically, so a share of the spoils in Poland, against the run of their league form, counts for something.

Juventus denied by VAR

Across the competition, Juventus were denied a winner against Rennes after a VAR review chalked off what would have been a late goal, the Guardian reports, leaving the Italian side with a draw instead of three points. It is the sort of fine margin that defines early league-phase standings, where goal difference and bonus points can separate sides who played almost identical football.

League-phase chaos, round by round

The early rounds of this Europa League season are producing more chaos than clarity. Celtic's collapse, Sunderland's gritty point and Juventus's VAR frustration all point to a competition where no result is safe until the final whistle, and where a club like Celtic, with serious European pedigree, can find itself three losses deep before anyone has really noticed how it happened.