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Celtic's rotten start to season continues with home defeat to Braga

Ross MacDonald - SNS Group / SNS Group / Getty

Celtic slumped to a 2-0 loss against Braga in the Europa League on Thursday to leave Brendan Rodgers' side with just one point from their first two games.

The Scottish champions fell behind at Parkhead to a dipping long-range strike from Ricardo Horta that beat goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel far too easily.

Kelechi Iheanacho had an equaliser controversially ruled out early in the second half after a VAR review for a supposed handball.

But Celtic's hopes of salvaging a result were dashed when substitute Gabri Martinez scored a scrappy late second goal for the Portuguese visitors.

"We conceded the goal and, after that, we never recovered in the first half," Rodgers told TNT Sports.

"The second half... we were much better. We had chances, but of course, when you're chasing the game, they break and they get the second goal. So, a really disappointing performance for us."

Celtic have failed to score in five of their 12 games in all competitions this season, which included a pair of goalless draws against Kairat Almaty in the Champions League play-off round.

The Kazakh side won that tie on penalties to condemn Celtic to a place in the Europa League.

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