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Despite a nervy ending, Celtic put Tuesday’s disasterclass behind them to move eight points clear of Rangers.

A Camilo Duran double and a Colby Donovan OG saw the Hoops defeat Falkirk 2-1.

Scott Bain continued from where he left off at Celtic Park, dropping a long ball into the path of Duran. The Colombian robbed him of the ball and slotted into an empty net only for the offside flag to rule out an early opener. However, VAR came up clutch and gave the goal.

Yang had the pace to get inside of Strain. The angle was tight and the South Korean could only blast it at Bain.

Nygren’s corner was headed clear and Oxlade-Chamberlain curled an effort to the bottom corner which Bain tipped around the post.

Celtic got their second in spectacular fashion. Sinisalo’s quick free kick found Scales who released Tierney. A clever one two with Yang saw Tierney away. Despite being wrestled into the box, Duran held off his man and bundled home Tierney’s cross to make it 2-0.

A ridiculous Duran flick released Baur one on one with Bain but he couldn’t find the corner with his shot too close to the keeper.

Nygren was next to test Bain with a curling effort with Hassan screaming for a through ball.

Scales’ dodgy clearance resulted in Sinisalo finally being called into action as he punched clear.

Falkirk started the second half better with Parkinson showing excellent control to bring a cross down, swivel and shoot. His strike flew over the bar.

Celtic finally clicked into life with nice one touch football and Bain produced a massive save to deny Nygren.

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Pre-match thoughts and immediate full time reaction from the stadium

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Date: 29th August 2026

Kick off: 15:00

Venue: Celtic Park

Broadcast: Celtic TV (outside UK and Ireland)

Competition: William Hill Scottish Premiership

Manager: John McGlynn

Referee: Chris Graham

VAR: Greg Aitken

Stats & Facts

Falkirk is the only team yet to score a goal in the Premiership this season.

Celtic have played Falkirk 79 times at Celtic Park. They have only lost seven times.

The Bairns failed to progress from the Premier Sports Cup group stage despite finishing 2nd.

Falkirk’s top four scorers in the league last season are now at different clubs.

Opposition Last Result: Motherwell 0-0 Falkirk

Motherwell’s woes against Falkirk continued as they still search for a victory again the Bairns since they returned to the Premiership.

The lack of goalmouth action was clear with both sides only managing to register a single shot on target each.

After a fairly innocuous opening 25 minutes, the game burst into life. A clever ball around the corner set Longelo free and Henderson did enough to disturb Maswanhise as he blocked his goalbound shot.

From the resulting corner, Said swivelled in the box and smashed a shot off the bar with Motherwell beginning to put on the pressure.

The Steelmen were patient and managed to carve Falkirk open with Fadinger at full stretch but unable to beat Bain who did well to close down the angle.

More neat football from Motherwell saw Maswanhise spurn another chance as he blazed Longelo’s pull back miles over the bar.

Falkirk were all at sea as Koutroumbis was given the entirety of the right flank before firing over the bar with another chance going begging.

It was a quiet day for Paulsen and he didn’t have to really worry when Ethan Ross latched onto a knockdown, in a rare flurry forward, and curled it high and wide.

Barbrook did come close for Falkirk near the end with a shot destined for the bottom corner blocked.

Falkirk sit 10th in the table with Dundee United and Kilmarnock the only two teams worse off.

Previous Meeting: Celtic 3-1 Falkirk

The beginning of Celtic’s remarkable split campaign started here as they put the pressure on Hearts and Rangers after beating Falkirk 3-1 at Celtic Park.

It was the Daizen Maeda show with the lethal Japanese forward scoring two and assisting one as he began the run to single handedly win Celtic the league.

Here is my match report from the game.

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I have experienced, digested and written about a lot of Celtic defeats over the course of my life. Some have been big, some minor, some painful or infuriating, and some just plain funny.

But the sheer, crushing enormity of Tuesday night’s Champions League defeat in Linz is beyond anything that has gone before.

There is something almost Lovecraftian about it, a cosmic horror too enormous, too terrifying, too alien to comprehend. Never has a defeat felt so depressingly familiar and yet so horrifyingly new, and every attempt to get to grips with its size and shape sees it warp and slither away from you.

On the face of it this is just another embarrassing European reality check, the kind that Celtic see just about every season. Many of the narratives and many of the complaints are so eerily similar to previous European failures - particularly in qualifiers - that it feels like some kind of ghastly clone, a Frankenstein’s monster of Celtic in Europe torment.

Yet it feels somehow so much graver than that, so much deeper and more alarming.

On one level there’s the sheer embarrassment of it: giving up a four goal lead is so laughably shameful it’s difficult to really come to terms with it.

Celtic conceded their first goal against of the tie in dreadful fashion 32 minutes into the second leg. With 45 minutes to play, the Hoops still had a commanding three goal lead to hang onto. Even a really poor second half would still see them through into the group stages thanks to the work put in prior to that. To fail from there is staggering, and I could feel the colour drain from my cheeks in disbelief as I watched the collapse happen.

LASK took Celtic apart in the second half, and it was clear from the moment the tie was pulled back to 4-3 just before the hour mark that there was only going to be one winner from there. It was death by a thousand shots, as the team sank deeper and were increasingly hobbled by the manager’s substitutions. The home team were so completely dominant that defeat was as inevitable as it was painful.

That’s another aspect of this gargantuan failure: LASK battered Celtic.

Celtic being taken apart to this degree used to be the preserve of Europe’s top sides, teams who could bring individual players off the bench that cost more than our starting eleven. When Borussia Dortmund hammered Celtic 7-1 in the Champions League two seasons ago, they took 16 shots on goal and had an xG of 2.91.

LASK took 40 shots on the Hoops goal on Tuesday, with an xG total of 4.81. Even if you take the penalty kick out of that total, it’s still an xG of over 4. That is a PSG or Barcelona level spanking and it was handed out by a team who had just won their first league title since the 1960s and whose record signing cost around £2.5m. Over the two legs they scored five goals from an xG of around 6, conceding four from an xG of around 1.5. Celtic got really, really lucky, and still ended up comprehensively thrashed.

How did this happen? How did Celtic once again, for the eighth time in 12 qualification attempts, fall flat on their face? How did it happen even more dreadfully and even more painfully than the previous low points?

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We get to the mics at full-time to discuss the performance

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Celtic took a massive step towards UCL qualification after a sensational performance saw them defeat LASK 3-0 at Celtic Park.

It was a game of world class strikes as goals from Nygren and two from the outstanding Duran sent fans home buzzing.

Celtic endured a nightmare start with Usor smashing and unstoppable finish past Sinisalo after 30 seconds. Thankfully the flag went up but it was an early warning with a ball through over the top carving us open.

Carter-Vickers looked like he was towing a caravan with the next through ball seeing Adeniran scuffing wide with just Sinisalo to beat.

Nygren flicked a nice ball to Duran who forced Jungwirth into his first save of the contest.

Duran used his pace to latch onto Donovan’s long ball and got there before Jungwirth. His prodded effort trickled slowly past the post as Celtic Park held its breath in anticipation.

Unless we get another Maeda-esque overhead kick against Rangers, we can close the Goal of the Season competition already. Despite LASK looking for more dangerous, Celtic took the lead after some lovely football. Tierney’s cross was half cleared and Nygren found the postage stamp with an audacious finish to give Celtic the lead.

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Goals from Trusty, Duran, Tounetki and Nygren saw the Hoops return to Glasgow on the back of a 4-0 victory.

The first big chance came through Eskesen who rattled the post as he latched onto a loose ball as Celtic failed to deal with a long throw.

There are fans who maintain Sinisalo is good enough to be our number 1 but when his distribution continues to put his teammates under pressure, he is always going to raise eyebrows. All the keeper had to do was hoof it clear and instead tried to pass out. Dundee United immediately pounced and struck the post again this time through Agyei.

There was a couple of half chances from Celtic who were trying to click into gear. The opening goal came from a brilliant corner from Nygren which Trusty flicked across goal and into the back of the net.

The Ox was running the show in the middle of the park. Some brilliant slick passing saw the former Arsenal and Liverpool man in room to smash across. Høgh couldn’t direct it on target and Duran was there to prod home the second. However, Greg Aitken decided to try and ruin the party by rerefereeing the game until he realised there was absolutely nothing wrong with Duran’s first Celtic goal.

Celtic were playing some luscious football and Nygren saw a goalbound effort well blocked.

Høgh did brilliantly to wing the ball on the wing and drive forward. His pass out to Duran was good and the Colombian found him at the back post free. His volley was poor for his standards and flew over the bar.

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We get to the mics at full-time to discuss the performance

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20MT Opposition in Focus

Date: 15th August 2026

Kick off: 17:45

Venue: Tannadice

Broadcast: Premier Sports 1

Competition: Premier Sports Cup

Manager: Jim Goodwin

Referee: Steven McLean

VAR: Greg Aitken

Form in last five (all competitions): WWLDL

Stats & Facts

Celtic lost on their last two visits to Tannadice. One under Wilfried Nancy in December 2025 and the other under Martin O’Neill in March 2026.

Celtic’s last win at the stadium was in April 2025 when they won 5-0 to secure the league title. That was the last time we saw Jota in a Celtic jersey.

Dundee United’s most recent League Cup triumph came in the 1980/81 season.

The last time these teams met in the League Cup, Celtic won the trophy thanks to goals from Commons and Forrest in 2015.

Opposition Last Result: Hearts 4-0 Dundee United

Wouter Vranken finally got his first competitive win as Hearts manager as they swept aside a beleaguered Dundee United side.

It only took four minutes for the Jambos to take the lead. A heavy touch was gobbled up in the midfield, allowing Hearts to work the ball forward. Renaud had acres of space in the middle of the park and the Frenchman curled home a stunning effort.

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A first half hat-trick from Celtic’s new striker has everyone excited.

We get to the mics at full-time to discuss the performance at the newly grassy Rugby Park.

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A hattrick in his second appearance for the Hoops spells fear for the rest of Scottish football.

After mocking Kasper Høgh for no reason, the entire Scottish media had egg on their face as our big striker was free at the back post to head home in the opening minute. Tierney’s good ball was expertly controlled by Engels who lifted it up for Høgh to attack at the back post.

Nygren gifted possession immediately and Kilmarnock had Sinisalo beaten only for Trusty to clear off the line.

It was a frantic start with Duran then coming close to his first Celtic goal, curling just wide after cutting in from the right.

After a bit of sustained Killie pressure, Engels forced the next save of the game, testing Stryjek from range.

Duran again came close on the counter trying to give Stryjek the eyes.

It really should have been two with Nygren unable to score with Stryjek producing an unbelievable save to keep the Swede out. Høgh and Tierney couldn’t turn home the rebound.

It was turning into one of those games with another break saw Tierney free to have a pop but it was straight at Stryjek.

Stryjek gave the ball straight to Engels but recovered to palm away his weak shot.

This was the most exciting game watching Celtic in recent times but there was a fear of not punishing Kilmarnock. Høgh managed to extend the lead with a brilliantly controlled finish after Nygren’s cut back.

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Date: 9th August 2026

Kick off: 13:30

Venue: The BBSP Stadium Rugby Park

Broadcast: Sky Sports Main Event

Manager: Neil McCann

Referee: Ryan Lee

VAR: Andrew Dallas

Stats & Facts

Kilmarnock scored more goals in their defeat last Saturday to St Johnstone (three), than they did in their entire Premier Sports Cup group campaign (two).

Kilmarnock have since changed surfaces at Rugby Park.

Celtic’s last visit to Ayrshire saw scenes of delirium as Julian Araujo completed the comeback in the 97th minute with a thunderous strike to win 3-2.

Celtic’s last defeat in Ayr came nearly three years ago after a Nat Phillips disasterclass as the Hoops lost 2-1.

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If a football season kicks off in a forest with no one around to see it, did it really start at all?

The SPFL season is underway - no really, it is, I promise you - and I’m not surprised no one has really noticed yet.

There has been next to no hype, no real build up, and, as always, Actual Football is in competition for attention with its bigger, more glamorous cousin: the (secretly incredible tedious) Summer Transfer Bonanza.

This season’s lack of build up is the fault of several things, and the biggest is what it has to follow.

Not only does the SPFL have to follow up a World Cup - the biggest and longest World Cup ever, and the first in a generation to have a cameo appearance from Scotland - but it also has to follow up the most exciting and unpredictable season of Scottish football in the 21st century.

It packed, by my careful estimations, around 4 seasons worth of drama into one campaign, and it still feels a little strange that we have to go again after that level of craziness.

Every football season fundamentally comes a bit too early. The transfer window is still open and teams are in various stages of readiness in terms of both fitness and quality - the season tumbles out of its front door, still tying its shoelaces as it runs for the bus.

But another issue is that none of the stories have really emerged yet.

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Pre-match thoughts and immediate reaction from the stadium

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By: Lewis Murray

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Hello, patrons and subscribers. I’m back after a longer than expected - and entirely self imposed - break. The World Cup was a welcome distraction but I’m ready to start writing about our beloved, messy football club again. In the words of everyone’s least favourite football transfer ‘journalist’: here we go!

In a sense, it was good that we had a full season of knowing that Daizen Maeda would be leaving.

Sometimes great players leave suddenly, unexpectedly. Sometimes you have a sense that this may be the last time you’ll see them, but you don’t know for sure and can wave the possibility away. None of that was the case with Daizen Maeda.

The messy aftermath of his failed move away last summer, when he was faced with the prospect of another season in Glasgow when he had been ready to go, was difficult and full of mixed feelings - and not just for us, I imagine.

There was anger at the way the situation was handled, and I really felt for him - the disappointment of the move collapsing so late must have been hard to take, and the club let him down after he had been such a fantastic performer in the previous season.

On the other hand, though, I was delighted, because Daizen Maeda is so much more than just a great player, and so much more than just a crucial presence in the Celtic team.

In fact, that question, of what precisely Daizen Maeda is, is one I tried to answer around a year ago.

After fruitlessly trying to secure some interviews for a piece I planned to write for the Football Writer’s Association’s Student Football Writer of the Year award, I was left with a day to go before the deadline and no story.

I shrugged and decided that any entry would be better than no entry at all, and I decided the only thing I had left was to write an ode to what was already my all time favourite Celtic player - and I have included that entry at the end of this article.

Since I wrote it, Daizen Maeda transitioned from Celtic cult hero to outright Celtic legend.

His final statline for the Hoops reads: 221 appearances, 79 goals, five league titles and five cups.

He scored eight times against Rangers, plus a winning penalty in a shootout for a League Cup final against them, as well as some goals in Europe and many more priceless moments besides.

His crowning moment, the one that cemented this status once and for all, was when he scored in the final minutes of Celtic’s title shootout against upstarts Hearts.

He had to stand at the side and wait, desperate, while the VAR check on his goal took place, and when the goal was announced he slumped to the ground and cried, such was the relief he felt that he had finished the job he started when he decided to try and win Celtic one last title all by himself. He may have wanted to leave, but when he was forced to stay he continued to give absolutely everything to the club that had become his home.

The closest comparison to Daizen that I can think of in recent memory is that of Tom Rogic - another player who had so many magical moments, so many building blocks that built up his legacy, and yet cannot simply be defined by that.

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Kelechi Iheanacho heads to Turkish second tier Bursaspor and Saracchi...goes nowhere.

What’s next for Celtic after this latest PR blunder?

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•Colombian forward Camilo Duran becomes Celtic’s first signing

•Does signing Oxlade-Chamberlain really make sense?

•Another highly rated youngster leaves for Liverpool

•Season tickets sell out again

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•Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain extends his contract

•Martin O’Neill wants a new style of play

•Recruitment concerns

and more

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