UEFA Champions League
Group E, Matchday Two
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Celtic Park, Glasgow

CELTIC… 1
(Kyogo 11)

LAZIO… 2
(Vecino 28, Pedro 90+4)

Celtic produced a strong performance against Lazio on matchday two of the UEFA Champions League, but they were denied at least a share of the spoils when the Italians snatched a goal in added time to win 2-1.

As always it was an incredible atmosphere inside Celtic Park at the start of the game, and both sides looked to enjoy some early possession, with the Hoops having the first glimpse of goal on 10 minutes.

A nice move involving Yang and Reo Hatate saw the ball slotted into the path of Kyogo, but his shot was blocked, with the ball eventually cleared out for a corner.

And just a minute later, Paradise erupted as Kyogo gave the home side the lead with his first ever Champions League goal.

Daizen Maeda and Matt O’Riley combined well, with the latter sliding a superb pass through the Lazio defence and into the path of Kyogo, who fired the ball past Ivan Provedel in the Lazio goal to give the Hoops a 1-0 lead.

Celtic pressed forward in search of a second goal and Maeda had a half-chance when the ball broke into his path after Yang was tackled as he raced down the left flank, but his left-foot shot went wide of the target.

Joe Hart was called upon in the 25th minute when Lazio captain, Ciro Immobile, was put through on goal. The Celtic keeper did well to deny the striker, but the offside flag would have come to Celtic’s rescue in any case.

There was to be no such intervention three minutes later, however, as the Italian side grabbed an equaliser.

A corner was swung into the box and headed on target by Matias Vecino, and though Joe Hart got a hand to it and saved the subsequent follow-up, Vecino’s initial effort was ruled to have crossed the line, making it 1-1 on the night.

With nine minutes of the half remaining, Matt O’Riley had a snapshot from the edge of the area after being set up by Kyogo, but Provedel saved.

And the Lazio goalkeeper denied Maeda with two minutes of the half remaining, racing out of his goal to block the Celtic player’s attempted lob from the edge of the area but that, too, would have been ruled out for offside.

Heartache for Hoops in added time as Lazio grab late winner