Celtic threw away the lead in a 2-1 defeat to Hapoel Tel-Aviv in their Europa League Group C opener.

Scottish giants punished in continental opener

Celtic threw away the lead in a 2-1 defeat to Hapoel Tel-Aviv in their Europa League Group C opener. Greek striker Georgios Samaras gave Tony Mowbray's side the lead in the first half at the Bloomfield Stadium, but Nemanja Vucicevic and Maaran Lala ensured a shock turnaround. Celtic, who were eliminated from the UEFA Champions League play-offs by Arsenal, were expected to record three points against supposedly the weakest team in their group. And the Bhoys started well as they were rewarded in the 25th minute when Samaras showed neat control to take advantage of bad defending and slot his side into the lead. However, after half-time, Celtic surrendered their control of the pace of the game and were punished in the 75th minute when Vucicevic equalised from 10 yards following a mix-up between Artur Boruc and Andreas Hinkel. The Scottish giants' misery was then compounded with only two minutes remaining as Lala hit the winner from close range after good work from Gil Vermot. Most of talk beforehand in a humid night in Tel Aviv was of Celtic skipper Stephen McManus making his first start of the season for the Parkhead club since returning from a knee injury and of striker Scott McDonald, who was perhaps surprisingly dropped for Samaras. However, the Greece international vindicated Mowbray's decision with an impressive first-half performance which saw him give the visitors the interval lead after hitting the bar with an earlier effort.

Positive

Mowbray's idea to have Aiden McGeady, Shaun Maloney and Scott Brown supporting Samaras was positive but nevertheless it was Hapoel who might have taken the lead with less than a minute played when left-back Dedi Ben Dayan's cross to the back post found Bebars Natcho. The midfielder had enough height to reach the ball but from barely six yards out he cleared Boruc's crossbar. The Parkhead side battled hard to get a foothold in the game and their first effort on goal after seven minutes saw Gary Caldwell, playing in midfield, head Danny Fox's inswinging free-kick in to the side netting. In the 12th minute, with Celtic settling into the game, Samaras rose highest inside a packed six-yard box to power a Maloney corner goalwards, only to see Hapoel keeper Vincent Enyeama help the ball on to the bar with his fingertips. The home side survived the brief moment of panic before coming close again themselves seconds later. Natcho sent Vucicevic racing down the right and the midfielder cut inside before driving a left-footed shot in from 16 yards, which Boruc did well to block with his feet. The complexion of the game, though, changed more markedly in the 25th minute when the visitors took the lead. In text-book fashion, he controlled a through-ball by Caldwell with his chest and took himself clear of the static Hapoel rearguard before dispatching a left-footed drive from 16 yards past Enyeama.

Confidence

For the rest of the half, Celtic played with more confidence while the Israeli side dropped down the gears. Uefa's decision to experiment with an extra referee's assistant behind each goal was tested in the early moments of the second half when Ben Dayan lobbed a speculative ball in from the left for striker Yeboah to attack. The covering McManus got his foot to the ball but it appeared to then strike his hand however, none of the officials, including referee Paul Allaerts,