Benfica and Celtic met at Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica (da Luz) in the UEFA Europa League league phase, and the shape of the match explained the scoreline far better than the bare numbers do. Celtic went down to 4-1 and spent the remainder of the evening trying to pull the game back. The turning point came at the 5 minute mark, when Jhon Durán converted the penalty, and everything that followed was played in that new landscape. Benfica won 4-1 and carried the points home. 58870 supporters filled Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica (da Luz), and the noise never really left the players alone. Neither side arrived in the best form: the last five results read W W W L W for Benfica and W L L L W for Celtic, and both sets of players knew what a slip would cost.
Match facts
- Date: 15.10.2026
- Kick-off: 19:00 UTC
- Venue: Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica (da Luz), Lisboa, Portugal (68100)
- Attendance: 58870
- Referee: Nikola Dabanović (Montenegro)
- Competition: UEFA Europa League 2026/2027 – Matchday 2
- Starting line-ups: Benfica (4-2-3-1, Coach: Marco Silva) / Celtic (4-2-3-1, Coach: Martin O’Neill)
- Scorers: Jhon Durán 5′ (Benfica); Alexander Bah 23′ (Benfica); Jhon Durán 36′ (Benfica); Camilo Durán 63′ (Celtic); Vangelis Pavlidis 89′ (Benfica)
Benfica lined up with Anatoliy Trubin, Alexander Bah, Tomás Araújo, Clément Lenglet, Samuel Dahl, Fredrik Aursnes, João Palhinha, Dodi Lukébakio, Georgiy Sudakov, Gianluca Prestianni, Jhon Durán in a 4-2-3-1, while Celtic answered with Viljami Sinisalo, Colby Donovan, Dane Murray, Auston Trusty, Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor, Mika Baur, Camilo Durán, Oliver Sørensen, Sebastian Tounekti, Kasper Waarts Høgh in a 4-2-3-1. Marco Silva and Martin O’Neill led their respective sides from the touchline, and both had a plan for the first hour that they wanted to keep intact.
Goals and key moments
Goal details, minutes and scorers are the part of the record that separate one evening from another. At the 5 minute mark, Jhon Durán converted the penalty, and there was nothing anyone could do about 1-0. It was a chance worth 0.79 expected goals, which is exactly why it was worth taking. That strike changed the temperature of the evening: from that point Benfica could play for the counter while Celtic had to take risks in the spaces that had opened up. 23′: Alexander Bah struck it with quality, Gianluca Prestianni helping it over the line, and it was 2-0 almost immediately. The chance itself carried 0.5 expected goals of weight, and the goalkeeper had no answer to it. The opening goal of the night arrived at the 36 minute mark, when Jhon Durán scored cleanly for 3-0. The goalkeeper would say afterwards that it was worth 0.1, and that is the harshest measure of all. Camilo Durán scored cleanly at the 63 minute mark, Haissem Hassan supplying the pass, and the scoreboard read 3-1. Put simply, the chance was worth 0.25 expected goals, and the finish was better than the situation deserved. 89′: Vangelis Pavlidis scored cleanly, Tomás Araújo helping it over the line, and it was 4-1 almost immediately. It did not need much to fall at 0.2 expected goals, but the execution in the finishing was immaculate. Not every opening was taken, though, and the chances that were missed told their own story. Taken together, the goals gave the evening a shape that the scoreline on its own never explained.
The tactical picture
Benfica started in 4-2-3-1 under Marco Silva, while Celtic answered with 4-2-3-1 under Martin O’Neill, and those two shapes decided most of what happened on the field. The midfield was the part of the pitch both sides wanted, and the numbers show who managed to take it. Neither manager was willing to hand the central ground over for free, and the shape of the game followed that refusal. Benfica’s 4-2-3-1 was the sharper of the two systems, and Celtic’s 4-2-3-1 spent longer than they should have without the ball. Benfica pressed high and won the second ball, which left Celtic unable to build from the back and forced them into hopeful passes. The width of the pitch worked against Celtic, who kept trying to attack down the same flank and were closed down every time. Transitions were the story: Benfica moved the ball forward at speed, Celtic could not. The tactical conversation between the two benches was as much a part of the evening as the movement of the ball itself.
Statistical comparison
The statistical picture is as revealing as the scoreline itself. Possession finished at 53 per cent for Benfica against 47 per cent for Celtic, and it is worth noting which side actually used it. Expected goals told the sharper story: 3.18 for Benfica, 1.36 for Celtic. Benfica attempted 26 shots to Celtic’s 14, with 7 on target against 7. The numbers that decide matches rarely tell the whole story, but they narrow the argument down to a very small area. Benfica won 8 corners to Celtic’s 6, and that is where most of the set-piece danger came from. Benfica completed 526 of 576 passes against 455 of 509 for Celtic, a difference that shows how differently the two sides circulated the ball. Fouls were committed 9 times by Benfica and 7 by Celtic, with 0 and 0 red cards in the official count. The goalkeepers made 6 and 3 saves respectively, and on a night like this that work decides how the result is remembered. The duels went 37 to 37, which is usually the cleanest single indicator of who was prepared to spend effort on the ball. Tackles were completed 15 times by Benfica and 14 by Celtic, and the duels that followed tell the same story as the rest of the evening. Benfica managed 21 shots from inside the penalty area compared with 12 for Celtic, which is the clearest single indicator of where the game was actually played.
Discipline and substitutions
Discipline and substitutions shaped the second half more than the scoreline suggests. Benfica collected 3 yellow cards and Celtic 0, with Samuel Dahl (44′), Alexander Bah (69′), João Palhinha (85′) among the bookings. The caution count of 3 in total meant the referee had to manage a game that was becoming increasingly physical around the halfway line. Both coaches used their changes: 5 by Benfica and 5 by Celtic, with the last substitution of the evening coming at the 80 minute mark. The emotional temperature of the evening rose and fell with the challenges and with the decisions taken by both benches. Nikola Dabanović took charge of the match and had a relatively straightforward evening by the standards of the competition.
Player of the match and the standout performers
Individual performances separated the two teams across a full ninety minutes. Gianluca Prestianni of Benfica was the player of the match with a rating of 9.4, and every touch that mattered carried his name on it. For Benfica, the best individual rating belonged to Gianluca Prestianni (9.38). For Celtic, the best individual rating belonged to Camilo Durán (7.93). The gap between the best performances on each side was the reason the result never really looked as comfortable as it was. The goalkeeping was worth a mention too: Anatoliy Trubin made 6 saves for Benfica, and Viljami Sinisalo made 3 for Celtic. Across the two squads the highest individual ratings read Gianluca Prestianni (9.38), Jhon Durán (9.05), Camilo Durán (7.93), Haissem Hassan (7.43).
What the result means for the league phase
Benfica on 6 points from 2 matches, in 3rd place with a goal difference of +5 and Celtic on 0 points from 2 matches, in 34th place with a goal difference of -5. Benfica arrived with W W W L W in their last five and Celtic with W L L L W, so the result fits the run both of them have been on. For Benfica the three points are banked and the group is a shade closer to settled; for Celtic the work still to be done, and this defeat has made that plain. What the numbers cannot show is how hard the result was worked for, and how differently the two sides will remember it. The next round of the league phase will tell more: whoever adjusts first in the coming days will be the one who controls the group.