JAKARTA – The elite teams in the Europa League playoffs won an important victory. VfB Stuttgart successfully defeated host Glasgow Celtic 4-1 at Celtic Park Stadium, Glasgow, Friday, February 20, 2026 early morning WIB. Meanwhile, Bologna won 1-0 over SK Brann.
Celtic is actually not an easy opponent for Stuttgart. How not, Celtic is a top team in the Scottish League managed by veteran manager Martin O’Neill. The 73-year-old manager is returning to Celtic for the second time. In the first period while handling The Hoops in 2000 to 2005, O’Neill was able to win seven trophies.
Now, O’Neill is playing his 1000th game with Celtic when hosting Stuttgart. Only O’Neill got a disappointing result when he reached the milestone of the match.
Playing at home, they were even forced to surrender by Stuttgart. Even this German Bundesliga team should have broken the Celtic goal five times if striker Emerdin Demirovic’s goal was not annulled by the referee.
However, the 4-1 victory gave Stuttgart a greater chance to advance to the last 16 of the Europa League. This is because the team coached by Sebastian Hoeness only needs a draw in the second match held at home at the MHPArena Stadium, 27 February 2026 early morning WIB.
The match itself was a draw in the early minutes. However, Stuttgart managed to take advantage of the gap to score a goal after goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel made a mistake when throwing the ball. This effort from the Danish goalkeeper made the ball fall at the feet of the Stuttgart player who then gave it to Deniz Undav. With one touch, he passed the ball with the back heel which was finished by Bilal El Khannouss.
The goal in the 15th minute gave Stuttgart a 1-0 lead. The first goal actually made Celtic rise. Only seven minutes later, the home team’s offensive play made them score a counterattack.
This time the Stuttgart goalkeeper Alexander Nuebel made a mistake when giving the ball to Atakan Karazor who was less calm when receiving it. He then passed the ball to his teammate but fell at the feet of Celtic midfielder Benjamin Nygren who then outwitted Nuebel and fired a shot into an empty net.
The score changed 1-1 which made the match fierce again. Stuttgart didn’t take long to get ahead again. In the 28th minute, El Khannouss managed to score a brace through a close-range header. The goal of the player who was loaned from Leicester City changed the score to 2-1. Stuttgart’s advantage lasted until the first half ended.
In the second half, Celtic tried to rise. But their attacks often failed. On the other hand, Stuttgart managed to add a goal through Jamie Leweling in the 57th minute. Leweling’s hard shot from long range could actually be reached by goalkeeper Schmeichel. Only he still failed to stop the pace of the ball that entered his goal.
Furthermore, only two minutes later, Stuttgart actually added another goal through Demirovic. Unfortunately, the goal was annulled. However, substitute Tiago Tomas did not make a mistake when breaking into the home team’s goal in injury time. The tag goal was created in the 90+3 minute to make Celtic even worse. The reason is that they will find it difficult to catch up with the goal deficit. The score itself changed to 4-1 for Stuttgart and lasted until the end of the match.
In the match at Brann’s home, Italian Serie A club Bologna won 1-0. Bologna’s only goal was scored by Santiago Castro when the match was only nine minutes in. He finished off an assist from Niccolo Cambiaghi to break the host’s goal.
The advantage became a valuable capital for I Rossoblu when they hosted Brann in the second match at home. They only need a draw to get a ticket to the 16th round.
Even though he was satisfied with Bologna’s victory, coach Vincenzo Italiano said the fight was not over. According to him, there is still a second match held at the Renato Dall’Ara Stadium to ensure the move to the knockout round.
“The priority is that we can avoid risks and dangers. Now we are focused on the second match and must be able to beat them at Dall’Ara,” Italiano said as quoted by the UEFA website.
“Congratulations to Castro. Even though he is still young, but he has high motivation. It’s fun to deal with young people like him,” he said.
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