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HT: Celtic 1-2 Stuttgart - Schmeichel slow to react to El Khannouss' tame shot; Nygren capitalises on horror pass before El Khannouss afforded free header
Martin O'Neill's side finished 21st in group phase; Bundesliga visitors finished 11th
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HT: Celtic 1-2 Stuttgart
Pat Bonner
Former Celtic goalkeeper on BBC Sportsound
It's a tactical situation that Celtic have to get right at half-time.
Vagnoman is getting so high up the pitch for Stuttgart and Tounekti is struggling.
FT: Celtic 1-2 Stuttgart
At 21, Bilal El Khannouss is already an established Morocco international.
Scotland will hope to do a better job of keeping him quiet when the teams meet at the World Cup in June.
Image source, SNSHT: Celtic 1-2 Stuttgart
Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland at Celtic Park
It's becoming a familiar tale. Martin O'Neill will need to regroup and inspire Celtic to come from behind again.
You feel they need a big turnaround, having never won on German soil.
Defensively, things need sorted fast as the goals conceded were very, very poor.
Image source, SNSHT: Celtic 1-2 Stuttgart
We definitely need a goalkeeper. Schmeichel, unfortunately, has been responsible for too many goals and I don't see Sinisalo as a good alternative.
Christine
Scales and Trusty are not good enough for Celtic, throw in a dodgy keeper and that spells disaster. When a new manager comes in there should be a clear out of the deadwood at the back. Feel sorry for MON as he doesn't have any alternatives.
Bill
The Bundesliga side lead thanks to a double from Bilal El Khannouss.
Celtic really should have done better for both goals, which came either side of a Benjamin Nygren goal.
Slow starts are a worrying theme for Celtic this season.
Image source, SNSCeltic 1-2 Stuttgart
James McFadden
Former Scotland forward on BBC Sportsound
That's a great chance for Tounekti to commit. He waits for it to bounce, backs off.
Go and meet the ball, take players on.
If you're doing that to get a cross in, the cross has the be better.
Celtic 1-2 Stuttgart
Corner to Celtic in first-half stoppage time... It's headed clear and Sebastian Tounekti can only send his cross from the left straight out of play.
Celtic 1-2 Stuttgart
The visitors break from a simple ball through the middle. It's worked left to Jamie Leweling, who blazes a shot high over the top.
Celtic 1-2 Stuttgart
Martin O'Neill will be furious at how his 1,000th match as a manager is unfolding. Celtic just haven't got going at all.
Image source, SNSCeltic 1-2 Stuttgart
James McFadden
Former Scotland forward on BBC Sportsound
Stuttgart are basically playing a 4-2-4 with Undav picking up little spaces on the right and impacting three players.
It frees up Vagnoman down the right. Tounekti has to go with him.
Celtic 1-2 Stuttgart
Ermedin Demirovic is stretching as he leaps in the Celtic penalty area and the Stuttgart striker can only glance a header wide.
Celtic 1-2 Stuttgart
Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland at Celtic Park
Both goals have been pretty cheap and evidence of a consistent pattern. It's completely undermining Celtic.
You can feel the nerves when Stuttgart go forward as this crowd almost expect a problem, not because they look great but because the back-line looks so fragile.
That's 12 goals conceded in Celtic's last eight fixtures including this one so far. It's hard to keep winning with a record like that.
Celtic 1-2 Stuttgart
Scotland captain Andy Robertson is at the game.
The Liverpool left-back might have some thoughts on the defending on show.
Image source, SNSCeltic 1-2 Stuttgart
Ermedin Demirovic threatens a third goal for the visitors as he prods a deflected effort on target.
Kasper Schmeichel gets both hands to it but the stumble afterwards will have given a few home fans a scare.
Celtic 1-2 Stuttgart
James McFadden
Former Scotland forward on BBC Sportsound
He's in so much space. Someone has to pick him up.
It's a free header in the six-yard box. There's no desire there for Celtic to squeeze the game and get out of their box.
Bilal El Khannouss
The on-loan Leicester City player nods in his second goal of the game.
Bilal El Khannouss is left all alone in a busy penalty area to get on the end of a deflected cross.
Far too easy.
Celtic 1-1 Stuttgart
Stuttgart forward Deniz Undav uses his arm to control the ball before his close-range effort is deflected just wide.
He was never going to get away with that.
Celtic 1-1 Stuttgart
That's 18 goals for Benjamin Nygren this season.
Very impressive for a midfielder.
Celtic 1-1 Stuttgart
James McFadden
Former Scotland forward on BBC Sportsound
He plays the pass blindly, Nygren does brilliantly pressing and then has the composure to drag it onto his right foot and slot into an empty net.
Image source, SNSBenjamin Nygren
Another blunder, another goal.
Stuttgart skipper Atakan Karazor is guilty of a slack pass near his own penalty area and the ball smacks against Benjamin Nygren.
The Celtic midfielder accepts the gift, calmly ghosting past the goalkeeper to slot home.
Celtic finished the league phase of the competition with a home win against Utrecht
Martin O'Neill goes into his 1000th match as a manager expecting the hardest test of this season as Celtic take on Stuttgart in a Europa League play-off.
"Stuttgart are flying at this moment, they're fourth in the Bundesliga, they're in a Champions League position," the 73-year-old said before Thursday's first leg in Glasgow.
"They're obviously very strong, physical, with a lot of good players playing for them. So they'll be difficult games for us, but while we're there, let's go for it."
O'Neill has lost just once in 18 games across two spells at Celtic this term, away to Midtjylland in this tournament.
When asked how Stuttgart rank as opponents, he replied: "Oh, without a doubt, it would be the toughest, considering the position that they're in, considering the league that they are in as well. So this would be pretty tough."
O'Neill's 300th match as Celtic boss came on Sunday, with a dramatic 3-2 victory over Kilmarnock.
On his latest landmark he explained: "It's a real surprise because I'd never counted the games, genuinely never, and when the LMA [League Managers Association] told me yesterday about it, it did come as a big surprise to me.
"It's nice to do and it's really pleasing, but I have to thank Celtic for doing it otherwise it wouldn't have happened.
"If you'd seen my early matches at Leicester City in late 1995, early 1996, you'd have got long odds of me doing 1000 games in that time."
O'Neill's assistant Shaun Maloney scored for Celtic against Stuttgart in a 3-1 home win in February 2003
Celtic finished 21st in the league phase, winning three and drawing two of their eight matches.
Stuttgart won five games to end up in 11th spot.
The teams have met once before, during O'Neill first reign in Glasgow, with Celtic progressing 5-4 on aggregate on their way to the 2003 Uefa Cup final.
"For us to come through was big news," he recalled. "Stuttgart were a very fine side then."
Stuttgart have lost just one of their past nine league matches, a surprise result away to second-bottom St Pauli on 7 February.
Former Brighton striker Deniz Undav has scored 16 goals in all competitions this season, with only Bayern Munich pair Harry Kane and Luis Diaz netting more in the German top flight.
Bosnia and Herzegovina forward Ermedin Demirovic reached double figures with two goals in the 3-1 win over Cologne on Saturday.
Left-back Maximilian Mittelstadt has earned 15 Germany caps since 2024, while midfield pair Jamie Leweling and Angelo Stiller have been in recent national squads.
Only FC Midtjylland (nine) have scored more goals via set-pieces in the Europa League this season than Celtic (eight) – four of Celtic's last five goals in the competition have been scored via that method (three corners, one penalty).
This is Stuttgart's first major European knockout round tie since losing 5-1 on aggregate to Lazio at the round of 16 stage of the Europa League in 2012-13. Overall, the Germans have won just one of their last 11 knockout matches (D3 L7).
Celtic have won just one of their last 10 home games in the knockout rounds of major European competition (D3 L6), losing each of their last four in succession whilst conceding two-plus goals in each.
After losing each of their first five away European matches to Scottish opponents between 1964 and 2007, Stuttgart won their last trip to Scotland 2-0 against Rangers in the Champions League group stage in November 2009.
Celtic beat Stuttgart 5-4 on aggregate in the last 16 of the 2002-03 Uefa Cup under Martin O'Neill (3-1 home, 2-3 away).
Manager:Martin O'Neill
Formation:4 - 3 - 3
Manager:Sebastian Hoeneß
Formation:4 - 2 - 3 - 1
UEFA Europa League
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Celtic and Stuttgart have faced twice before in major European competition, with the Scottish side winning 5-4 on aggregate in the last 16 of the 2002-03 UEFA Cup under Martin O’Neill (3-1 home, 2-3 away).
After losing each of their first five away European matches to Scottish opponents between 1964 and 2007, Stuttgart won their last trip to Scotland 2-0 against Rangers in the UEFA Champions League group stage in November 2009.
Celtic have won just one of their last 10 home games in the knockout rounds of major European competition (D3 L6), losing each of their last four in succession whilst conceding 2+ goals in each.
This is Stuttgart’s first major European knockout round tie since losing 5-1 on aggregate to Lazio at the round of 16 stage of the UEFA Europa League in 2012-13. Overall, the Germans have won just one of their last 11 knockout matches (D3 L7).
Only FC Midtjylland (9) have scored more goals via set pieces in the UEFA Europa League this season than Celtic (8) – four of Celtic’s last five goals in the competition have been scored via that method (3x corners, one penalty).
