Braga 3-0 Celtic
Posted Thursday, July 29, 2010 by theguardian.com
Braga hand Neil Lennon's Celtic crushing Champions League defeat
Celtic's manager Neil Lennon can hardly look as his side is crushed by Braga.
Celtic's disappointing showing in the Champions League looks to continue after they were comprehensively beaten by Braga tonight.
Charlie Mulgrew made a poor early impression in a Celtic jersey with a fourth-minute yellow card for time-wasting at a throw-in. Mulgrew's booking followed a wasteful effort by Ki Sung-Yeung, who sent a free-kick won by the lone frontman Georgios Samaras over the crossbar. The heat was stifling and both sides looked a yard off the pace in their first competitive game of the season.
The Celtic winger Shaun Maloney put over a cross which was acrobatically cleared by Moises and Braga broke up the other end where Lukasz Zaluska spilled a Paulo César shot he should have held. Andres Madrid blazed a follow-up over.
Braga were awarded a controversial penalty when Ki Sung-Yeung was adjudged to have handled Miguel Garcia's cross in the 25th minute. Alan stepped up to fire the spot-kick into the roof of the net. Leandro Salino should have immediately added to Celtic's discomfort, turning quickly but scuffing his finish wide.
The vocal home supporters were now bouncing, while the small band of travelling fans were left to contemplate yet another reminder of Celtic's miserable European away record.
Scott Brown was flagged offside attempting to volley Mulgrew's back-post cross, but it was Braga who were shifting closer to getting in behind. Jos Hooiveld picked up a yellow card for clattering into Rodrigo Lima seconds after a warning from the referee, Serge Gumienny.
The Celtic defence were caught dawdling as César tried to force his way into the box, a gaggle of players doing just enough to stifle his finish. Glenn Loovens became the third Celtic player to be booked after fouling Lima.
Moises had time to flash a header wide before the manager, Neil Lennon, attempted to inspire Celtic by introducing new signing Daryl Murpy for Maloney. It had little effect and Celtic went 2-0 down when Elderson scored in the 76th minute before the substitute Matheus scored from a free-kick to wrap up a miserable night for Celtic two minutes from time.
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