Celtic shrug off kick-off chaos to beat Ferencvaros

Glasgow (AFP) – Celtic breathed new life into their Europa League campaign by beating Ferencvaros 2-0 in front of a crowd of more than 50,000 at Celtic Park despite a 1530 local time (1430GMT) kick-off.

The Hungarians were due to travel to Scotland in two weeks’ time, but policing requirements for the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow forced the fixture to be switched.

Rangers’ Europa League clash with Brondby on Thursday and UEFA’s insistence for a different kick-off time to Champions League games led to the unusual kick-off time.

Celtic fans protested with a banner directed at UEFA to pay more attention to match-going fans than television rights deals.

However, once the action got under way, there was plenty for the home fans to celebrate.

Ange Postecoglou’s men had conceded four goals in each game in losing their opening two group games to Real Betis and Bayer Leverkusen.

But a step down in the class of opposition allowed the Hoops to get off the mark in Group G and gain revenge for their Champions League qualifying exit to Ferencvaros last season.

Kyogo Furuhashi opened the scoring with a calm finish from Jota’s sumptuous through ball on 57 minutes.

Callum McGregor then saw a penalty saved by Denes Dibusz.

More chances came and went for the home side before David Turnbull bundled the ball in off the bar with nine minutes remaining.