Kasper Schmeichel’s every touch was booed by a section of Celtic fans in the aftermath of conceding two soft goals in a 4-1 Europa League defeat by Stuttgart.
The 39-year-old was slow to get down to the first of Bilal El Khannouss’ two goals and made a poor attempt to claw away a low drive from Jamie Leweling.
The Dane has come under criticism for his performances since returning from a shoulder injury last season and scoring an own goal in Celtic’s Scottish Cup final defeat by Aberdeen.
Benjamin Nygren briefly had Celtic level in the first half but the Bundesliga side were comfortable winners in the first leg of the knockout round play-offs and Tiago Tomas rounded off a poor night for Celtic with a stoppage-time effort.
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Celtic beat Stuttgart on their way to the 2003 Uefa Cup final under current boss Martin O’Neill but the 73-year-old’s focus will surely now be on the domestic campaign, even ahead of next week’s second leg in Germany.
That game comes at the start of a four-match run of away games in 10 days, which also sees Celtic travel to Ibrox twice either side of a trip to Aberdeen.
Vitor Pereira enjoyed a dream start to his Nottingham Forest reign as his new side put one foot in the last 16 of the Europa League with a 3-0 romp at Fenerbahce.
Pereira was taking charge of Forest for the first time after he became their fourth manager of a chaotic season and it could not have gone better as they took a decisive lead in the play-off round first leg in Istanbul.
Goals from Murillo, Igor Jesus and Morgan Gibbs-White made it a memorable night for Forest as life after Sean Dyche began in freescoring fashion.
The victory means that, barring a disaster in next week’s second leg at the City Ground, Forest will earn a last-16 tie against Real Betis or Midtjylland.
Elsewhere, Crystal Palace’s Conference League hopes hang in the balance after a 1-1 draw at Bosnian Premier League side Zrinjski Mostar in the first leg of their knockout phase play-off.
Oliver Glasner had reinforced his attacking ranks since their last European outing in December, but it was Ismaila Sarr, assisted by January signing Jorgen Strand Larsen, who broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time.
The Eagles allowed Karlo Abramovic to score a second-half equaliser, then failed to create many chances, coming closest when Adam Wharton rattled the crossbar.
It was another disappointing display from the struggling Premier League side, once touted as favourites to win the competition, but now hoping they can simply turn around a more inspiring outing at Selhurst Park and survive beyond next week.
