First established in 1887, the Celtic Football Club is one of the most prestigious and successful Scottish football organisations. Across their history, the side have won 52 Scottish League Championship, 40 Scottish Cups and 20 Scottish League Cups, as well as the European Cup once before. However, for such a successful side, there have also been low points—here are several of those, as we look at three of the biggest Cup upsets in Celtic history.
Inverness Humiliate Struggling Celtic
Fans will remember this match from 2000 as one of the darkest days in Celtic history.
A Celtic team packed with the likes of Vidar Riseth, Regi Blinker and Olivier Tebily, all talented players in their own right, were stunned 3-1 by part time, second tier team Inverness. The opening goal by Barry Wilson quieted Celtic fans, who were quickly given false hope when Mark Burchill equalised soon after. However, this was to be as good as it got for Celtic, who then conceded another two goals to lose 3-1.
With angry fans waiting in the parking lot, it felt like the world was ending for Celtic at the time. However, with manager John Barnes sacked two days later, the match actually served as a necessary rock bottom, from which Celtic began a powerful rebuild.
League Cup Exit Against Greenock Morton
A little under a decade ago, Celtic squared off against Greenock Morton in the third round of the League Cup.
The match up was extremely imbalanced. Celtic had only lost one match in the league all season, while Greenock Morton had only managed six wins from their 36 games. Therefore Celtic were heavy favourites at the bookmakers going into this match. When betting it is usually not a good idea to bet on someone who is a 35-to-1 favourite, but sometimes these games tend to surprise. You can try to see if you can find the next big surprise by looking at football bets available and the history of the teams’ statistics. Although Greenock Morton defied the odds and came away victors 3-1, this is not a common thing.
The game began as expected, with Celtic taking a 1-0 lead. However, that was the last of normality in this clash, with Greenock Morton running in three unanswered scores to come away victorious and bundle Celtic out of the League Cup in the third round. Despite this high, Greenock Morton returned to their losing ways in the next round, getting knocked out and relegated.
Debut Disaster for Celtic Against Clyde
A cliché in sports is that teams are only as strong as their weakest player.
This statement couldn’t have felt more true for Celtic when they were playing Clyde in 2006. Fielding a team brimming with the talent of Shunsuke Nakamura, Neil Lennon and Roy Keane, the side were still beaten by minnows Clyde for the first time in 48 years.
The loss was in large part due to a disastrous debut by Chinese international Du Wei, who played his first Celtic game as a defender. Against a side that Celtic had beaten 5-0 less than a year before, Du Wei gave away a penalty and failed to clear the ball in front of the goal, leading to a 2-1 loss to Celtics against Clyde in a match they should never have been tested in.
Coincidentally, the match was Du Wei’s only appearance in a Celtic shirt.
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