Celtic's Champions League hopes in tatters after Leipzig humbling

Celtic face an uphill battle to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages after a 3-1 Champions League defeat against RB Leipzig.

Christopher Nkunku opened the scoring from a 27th-minute counter-attack after Celtic lost the ball following a short corner and, with captain Callum McGregor off injured, the visitors could not build on Jota's equaliser.

Leipzig had just had a second goal disallowed following VAR's intervention when goalkeeper Joe Hart presented the home team with the ball to allow Andre Silva to score the first of his two second-half goals.

Cameron Carter-Vickers failed to make the game because of injury but the influential centre-back is likely to return for the reverse fixture next week.

The game started in frantic fashion with both sides having several chances inside the opening 10 minutes. Timo Werner and Nkunku threatened for the hosts while Matt O'Riley, Jota and Reo Hatate saw the sting taken out of shots by blocks at the other end.

Celtic's first reprieve came when Nkunku was denied by a tight offside decision after dinking the ball over Hart.

Leipzig's opener came immediately after a spell of Celtic pressure. Kyogo Furuhashi saw a header well saved before Moritz Jenz shot over from a good chance after Greg Taylor had a shot spilled.

Furuhashi then saw his shot deflected wide after being gifted possession on the edge of the box. The ball was in Celtic's net 16 seconds after the resulting corner. McGregor took a heavy touch 25 yards out and lost the ball in a challenge before inadvertently diverting it into Nkunku's path as he tracked back.

The France international took the ball round Hart and squeezed the ball in between the near post and the sliding Josip Juranovic.

There was a double whammy as