What the Czech papers had to say about Celtic's latest 4-1 defeat to Sparta Prague

Celtic found themselves on the receiving end of a 4-1 defeat to fourth-seed Sparta Prague for the second match in succession in Group H of the Europa League.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon retains belief in his ability to turn things around after another grim 4-1 defeat to Sparta Prague (Photo by Michal Cizek / AFP) (Photo by MICHAL CIZEK/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite taking an early lead through an excellent Odsonne Edouard goal, familiar failings in defence ultimately cost Neil Lennon’s side.

The result confirms their exit from European football this campaign and they will likely finish bottom of the group despite being drawn as top seeds.

The defeat looks even worse when you consider Sparta’s form coming into the game. Václav Kotal’s side had lost their previous two league games to Viktoria Plzen and minnows SK Dynamo České Budějovice.

"The difference compared to the league fiasco was striking,” it read in Haló noviny. “Why was Sparta suddenly responsible, effective, and repeating the outcome of the first match in Glasgow?”

"We did not make cardinal mistakes as against Budějovice and Pilsen,” answered Kotal.

The away side did take an early lead, but as it also read in Haló noviny: “The home team had the upper hand from the beginning, but Celtic was the first to create a unique chance.”

The goal was described in newspaper Denik thusly: “The fast-paced Odsonne Édouard literally enjoyed the return to the team of Dávid Hancko during a swift counterattack and shot through goalkeeper Florin Nita.”

Lukas Julis, dubbed “the executioner of Celtic” in iSport after netting twice to go along with his hat-trick in Glasgow, added:“We have avoided the mistakes that have plagued us lately. The goal we got, maybe no one is to blame for it, because Edouard did it very well.”

The striker was then asked if he wished he could play the Scottish champions every week, to which he replied: “Most of all, I would like the boys to create for me every week just like in this match. If that's the case, we don't even have to play against Celtic [for me to score].”

Sticking with Julis, one publication joked that, with five goals in two games: “Hopefully that doesn’t mean he’ll end up moving to the British Isles soon…”

Aha! alluded to the poor form when focusing on captain Borek Dockal: “He was catching it. From all sides. For performances in Sparta and the national team. Bořek Dočkal has not had easy weeks, but on Thursday evening he sent a clear message to all doubters. With the armband, he was the leading figure expected of him.”

Denik didn’t think much of Celtic across the two games, printing: “Celtic...confirmed that it is the weakest of the three Spartan rivals in Group H.” They would also describe the visitors’ approach to defending as “bohemian”. The description of the fourth goal reads: “At the very end, the Balkan drip, substitute Srdjan Plavšič, danced by a completely scattered defence of the guests and gave the result its final form.”

The only downside from the performance from Kotal’s perspective was the manner in which Celtic controlled things immediately after the break as they sought an equaliser.

“At the beginning of the second half I was a little upset that we had too many cheap losses. It wasn't until we became clearer that the game levelled off and we counterattacked,” concluded Kotal.

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