Celtic slump to shock Bodo/Glimt defeat

Celtic's hopes of a European run suffered a major blow with a 3-1 home defeat against Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt.

The visitors' league season does not kick off until April but it was Celtic who looked out of sorts in the first leg of the Europa Conference League knockout round play-off.

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Goals early in each half from Runar Espejord and Amahl Pellegrino put the visitors in command and Celtic conceded two minutes after Daizen Maeda had headed a 79th-minute lifeline.

Hugo Vetlesen's deflected effort gives Celtic a mountain to climb when they head to the Arctic Circle next week.

Celtic came up against opponents who arrived in Glasgow ready to play their hosts at their own game. Like Ange Postecoglou, visiting boss Kjetil Knutsen started with three forwards supported by two attacking midfielders while his team were prepared to build from the back and press high up the park.

The visitors had not played a competitive game since 12 December and had lost players to the likes of Krasnodar, Lens, Hertha Berlin and Schalke since clinching their second consecutive Norwegian title.

However, they made a flying start and Joe Hart had already made saves before Espejord, a new signing from Heerenveen, slotted home inside seven minutes after some sharp passing around the edge of the Celtic box. Carl Starfelt could not get close enough to make the challenge as the forward netted from 12 yards.

Maeda had Celtic's best two openings of the first half, just either side of the goal. The Japanese centre-forward opted to pass the first time when a shot looked on and he could not pick out Liel Abada with his square ball. Maeda mis-kicked from his next opportunity.

The visiting goalkeeper made simple saves from Jota's speculative effort