Benfica run riot as Duran punishes hesitant Celtic

Celtic's return to European form lasted barely a half-hour as Benfica coasted to a 4-1 victory at Estadio da Luz in the Europa League, leaving Martin O'Neill's side with zero points from their opening two group games.

The damage was done early and ruthlessly. Benfica were ahead inside five minutes when Jhon Duran won a penalty and coolly chipped a Panenka past goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo — the earliest penalty goal Celtic have ever conceded in major European competition.

Marco Silva's side never looked back. Gianluca Prestianni pulled the strings, setting up Alexander Bah and then Duran again before the interval as the Portuguese champions ran riot. Duran's brace, plus strikes from Vangelis Pavlidis and Bah, rendered Camilo Duran's late consolation little more than a footnote, with Pavlidis adding Benfica's fourth in the 89th minute.

O'Neill points to second-half fightback

Despite the scoreline, O'Neill drew encouragement from his team's response after the break — even if Benfica struck the woodwork twice and finished with 14 shots to Celtic's nine.

"Last thing you want to do is concede so early on. We could've capitulated, but I thought the second-half performance was terrific. We created chance after chance," O'Neill told TNT Sports.

"The second-half performance gives me the determination. I think we can still qualify. We can still do it. We came roaring back, the subs came on and did brilliantly. We could've scored a number of goals. It changed because two wide players really wanted to get at people.

"I accept on the break they could have scored themselves, as they did with their fourth goal."

A worrying European trend

The result extends a deeply troubling run of form. In all competitions, Celtic have now lost four of their last five games (W1) — as many defeats as they suffered across their previous 36 matches combined (W28 D4 L4).

Celtic have also kept just five clean sheets in their last 54 major European matches, and only two in their last 30 Europa League outings. The defensive fragility, combined with an attack that created chances but failed to convert, leaves O'Neill with plenty to fix before the knockout race reaches its decisive stage.

Context only underlines the slump: prior to this European test, O'Neill's side had briefly returned to the Scottish Premiership summit with a 2-0 win at Motherwell (reported 11 October), a result that now looks like a false dawn given the subsequent collapse in results.