Hapoel Tel Aviv topple Celtic

Two goals in the last 15 minutes helped Hapoel Tel Aviv come from behind to humble Celtic in the opening Europa League Group C match at the Bloomfield Stadium on Thursday night.

The Scottish giants led at the break through Georgios Samaras but Nemanja Vučićević levelled after 75 minutes and supersub Maaran Lala struck the winner two minutes from time.

Hapoel coach Eli Gutman said: "We decided to take a risk at half-time and we started to pressure the Celtic defence. We played very well in the second half and I think we deserved to win this game."

Celtic manager Tony Mowbray commented: "Hapoel played well and ultimately on the night deserved their victory. We were pretty comfortable after we took the lead, but we have no excuses. We can take nothing away from Hapoel's performance."

Hapoel will hope to keep up their momentum in a fortnight at Hambuger SV, 3-0 losers against Rapid Vienna.

Hapoel: Vincent Enyeama, Douglas da Silva, Bebars Natcho, Nemanja Vučićević, Walid Badir, Samuel Yeboah, Gil Vermouth, Zurab Menteshashvili, Dedi Ben Dayan, Omri Kende, Avihay Yadin

Celtic: Artur Boruc, Andreas Hinkel, Stephen McManus, Gary Caldwell, Landry N'Guémo, Scott Brown, Georgios Samaras, Daniel Fox, Shaun Maloney, Glenn Loovens, Aiden McGeady