AZ 2-1 Celtic (2-3 agg): Hoops advance to group stage despite defeat

Carl Starfelt’s own goal did not prove to be costly as Celtic reached the group stage of the Europa League despite a 2-1 defeat to AZ.

The Hoops started the second leg at the AFAS Stadion on Thursday with a 2-0 lead from the first leg and edged through at the expense of their Eredivisie opponents.

Kyogo Furuhashi continued a great start to his Celtic career by opening the scoring with his seventh goal for the Glasgow club, but Zakaria Aboukhlal gave AZ hope when he equalised only six minutes in.

Starfelt found the back of his own net with 26 minutes gone and AZ ramped up the pressure after the break, but Ange Postecoglou’s side clung on to advance 3-2 on aggregate ahead of the Old Firm derby at Ibrox on Sunday.

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