Ricardo Horta opens scoring with long-range beauty in 20th minute
Gabri Martinez makes it 2-0 for Braga in 85th minute
Celtic now winless in their last three games
A stunning long-range strike from Ricardo Horta helped Braga secure a 2-0 victory against Celtic in the Europa League, piling more pressure on the Scottish champions.
Celtic fans called off a silent protest, initially planned due to their disappointment in the squad's lack of investment, after the board agreed to a meeting with a leading supporters' group, but this defeat will not help matters for the Hoops hierarchy.
The hosts made a positive start, as the bright Sebastian Tounekti linked up well with Kieran Tierney on the left and tested Lukas Hornicek with a strong effort after 13 minutes, but Horta broke the deadlock in spectacular fashion.
Horta received a simple pass from Jean-Baptiste Gorby and fired a powerful effort towards the top-right corner, with Kasper Schmeichel only able to palm the strike into the side-netting.
Celtic got back onto the front foot in the second half and thought they had an equaliser before the hour mark, but Kelechi Iheanacho's effort was ruled out for handball following a lengthy VAR check.
Both Tierney and Tounekti went close, but Hornicek pulled off two brilliant saves to deny a leveller.
And the visitors secured all three points when Dane Murray's clearance was closed down by Gabri Martinez and turned home in the process, with Celtic now winless in their last three games.
Data Debrief: Tounekti offers hope in defeat
Celtic, who drew with Red Star Belgrade in their Europa League opener last month, failed to offer much in the final third, producing just 0.65 expected goals (xG) from three shots on target to Braga's 1.05 from six attempts on goal, but it was a positive display from Tounekti.
The Tunisian winger registered the most shots in the match (three), most touches in the box (13), completed seven of his 11 dribbles and won 10 of his 22 duels.
But Brendan Rodgers' team are struggling to fire in attack. Indeed, they have now failed to score in five of their 12 games in all competitions this season, as many times as they blanked across their 57 matches in the whole of the 2024-25 campaign – it is the quickest the Hoops have gone goalless in five games in a season since 1991-92 (also 12 games).
Horta, meanwhile, is now one of four players to register 15+ goals and 10+ assists in the Europa League (since 2009-10) alongside Bruno Fernandes (27 goals, 19 assists), Dries Mertens (18 goals, 18 assists) and Andriy Yarmolenko (15 goals, 10 assists).
