VfB Stuttgart still qualified for the last 16 of the Europa League despite losing 1-0 when hosting Celtic in the second playoff at the MHPArena Stadium, Stuttgart, Friday, February 27, 2026 early morning WIB.
Celtic’s early goal in the first minute still couldn’t save the Scottish elite club in the European competition. Celtic actually made a great start. The reason is, they immediately took the lead after Luke McCowan broke the Stuttgart goal when the match started.
Even not all players from both teams touched the ball, McCowan brought Celtic 1-0. Only Martin O’Neill’s team was unable to add a goal throughout the match. On the other hand, Stuttgart, who could not show the best performance compared to when they won 4-1 at home to Celtic, still managed to score a goal in the 75th minute.
However, Deniz Undav’s goal was ruled out by the referee. The reason is that the Stuttgart player, Ermedin Demirovic, was declared offside in the process of the goal after the referee watched it through VAR.
The match itself ended with a score of 1-0 for Celtic because no more goals were created. However, Celtic still eliminated because they lost 4-2 on aggregate. This failure makes this Scottish League dominating club never able to penetrate the knockout round in European competitions since 2004.
O’Neill said the heavy defeat in the first match made it difficult for Celtic to catch up with the goal deficit. However, he still praised the performance of his team who played impressively.
“The first game made us have difficulties. We were too easy to concede in that match. But in this match we showed a good performance,” O’Neill said as quoted by france24.
“We actually had a chance in this match. We were actually able to make it difficult for them in the early minutes. But it must be admitted that they are a good team and have a chance to win this competition,” he said.
Meanwhile, Stuttgart coach Sebastien Hoeness was disappointed that his team failed to win the match when playing at home. Moreover, the team actually played better than Celtic.
“You certainly don’t want to lose. Especially we actually played better. It’s just that we are less clinical in front. Sometimes the performance is not in line with the results obtained,” said Hoeness.
“However, we managed to qualify for the next round. That’s our goal,” he continued. In the last 16, Stuttgart meet one of Portugal’s representatives, Braga or Porto.
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