Two clubs with almost the same name, and both lost on the opening night of this Europa League. Celtic vs Celta Vigo is at Celtic Park on Thursday 22 October 2026, Matchday 3 of the league phase, kicking off at 20:00 in Glasgow (21:00 in Vigo, 15:00 ET). Whoever loses will be looking at a very awkward route to the knockout rounds.
Celtic Park, Glasgow. Photo: Thomas Nugent, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
How Celtic ended up here
It was a painful summer. Celtic reached the Champions League play-off round and beat LASK 3-0 at Celtic Park in the first leg, then lost the return 5-1 after extra time in Linz. That 5-4 aggregate defeat dropped them into the Europa League's 36-team league phase, where each side plays eight different opponents.
The opener didn't help. Ferencváros won 3-1 in Glasgow on 17 September, with Mika Baur scoring Celtic's only goal. Celta had gone down 1-0 at Omonia in Cyprus the night before.
Both have hard games on 15 October first. Celtic go to Benfica in Lisbon, and Celta host Juventus at Balaídos. The top eight go straight to the round of 16 and ninth to 24th go into a play-off, so leaving Glasgow with nothing after three rounds would leave either team chasing.
Celtic
Celta VigoChampions at home, at least
Scotland has been kinder. After eight Premiership games Celtic had won seven and lost one, top of the table on 21 points with Rangers two behind. Martin O'Neill is in charge, and the goals have come from all over: Camilo Durán, Kasper Høgh and Benjamin Nygren had three league goals each by early October.
Midfield is where I'd worry. Arne Engels and Reo Hatate have both gone, and the middle of the pitch is exactly where Celta like to settle a game.
Celta draw a lot
Celta's La Liga season has been one draw after another. After eight games under Claudio Giráldez they had one win, five draws and two defeats, eight points, ninth in a crowded mid-table. They'd conceded only six goals in those eight. Scoring is the problem.
Iago Aspas, the captain and an icon in Galicia, is still there, with Borja Iglesias and Ferran Jutglà up front. The summer brought winger Couhaib Driouech from PSV Eindhoven and defender Sebastián Cáceres from Club América, and goalkeeper Altay Bayındır is on loan from Manchester United.
Aspas can still change a match with one touch. Driouech is quick and direct, the sort of outlet that punishes a home side with too many bodies forward, and Iglesias, a proper penalty-box striker, will enjoy any crosses if Celtic's full-backs push high.
My Celtic vs Celta Vigo prediction
Celtic Park holds around 60,000 and has been staging big European nights since the club won the European Cup in 1967. Full, it's one of the loudest grounds in Europe, and the crowd regularly lifts the team against technically better sides. Ferencváros won comfortably there in September, though, and Giráldez's patient, possession-based team is built to take the sting out of hostile crowds.
So the question is whether a Celtic side that scores freely in Scotland can break down a defence that rarely gives much away. I think they can, just, and probably late: Celtic 2-1. A draw wouldn't surprise me given how many of Celta's games end level.
Where to watch
TNT Sports has the Europa League in the UK, Scotland included, through to 2027. Club news is on Celtic's official website.
DAMITV carries Celtic vs Celta Vigo free in HD with no account needed on our La Liga streams hub, and Spanish-speaking fans in Galicia and Latin America can use Europa League en vivo or fútbol en vivo. Bournemouth play AC Milan at the same time; here's our Bournemouth vs AC Milan preview.
