Archive October 1, 2025

Celtic vs. Sporting Braga in the Europa League

Glasgow’s Celtic Park Date: Thursday, October 2 Kick-off: 17:45 BST

Despite a positive start to their Europa League campaign, Braga arrive in Glasgow in somewhat depressed mood, much like Genk did last week against Rangers.

Fans who watched their team lose 1-0 to the Nacional of Madeira on Sunday, dropping to seventh in the Liga Portugal table after five games without winning in one of their home games, were unsatisfied with the matchday one victory over Feyenoord.

Carlos Vicens, the team’s new head coach, who has personally dealt with fan dissatisfaction, most recently the dreaded waving of the white handkerchiefs frequently seen in Iberian stands when hardship strikes, criticizes the players’ attitude.

Vicens’ rise is largely due to his apprenticeship at Manchester City, where he transitioned from a work experience position to his first full-time position coaching the under-12s and 13s before convincing Guardiola to call him in 2021.

Vicens wanted to break into the professional game after four years under the guidance of arguably the best coach in the field today. Braga, who had already parted company with Carlos Carvalhal, called.

A 0-0 draw away to Levski Sofia in his opening game of the Europa League, followed by a stingy victory at home against the Bulgarians, under the new boss, was a start.

However, Braga’s 4-1 overall victory over Cluj and its subsequent 2 3-0 league victories should be positive signs.

The play-off round featured the first signs of a stumble as Celtic drawn away from AVS, their only remaining playoff game of the year, but the result was as comfortable as it could have been against Celtic’s former adversaries, Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar.

The Braga have lost both of their previous four league games at home, drawing the fanfare of the team.

In such a setting, Celtic Park, where they previously lost on their only previous visit to the team in August 2010 while playing Champions League qualifying, were unable to overcome a 3-0 first-leg deficit.

The Champions League team’s third-place finish that year opened the door for their best European campaign, which they won in the Europa League and won the final against Celtic’s Porto, who won the competition in 2003.

Rangers stopped them in the quarter-finals of 2022, putting them in the final on their own. Their best performance since then was in 2022.

With only a goal behind Fenerbahce, who went on to lose to Rangers, last season’s victories over Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hoffenheim, and Lazio proved insufficient to get them to the knockout phase.

It’s unknown whether the squad for this year is any better prepared for success.

Pau Victor, a Spanish striker from Barcelona (approximately £10.5 million), and Mario Dorgeles, a young Ivory Coast midfielder from Nordsjaelland (£9.6 million), both made significant investments, but Dorgeles may miss the game because he hasn’t played in the last five games.

Former Scotland hooker Fraser Brown believes the club needs to develop “a whole new vision” before it can become regarded as a perennial underachievers.

The United Rugby Championship will be contested by head coach Sean Everitt and his team will finish in the top four this year, according to Paul Hill, who even suggested they might challenge for the title.

However, after a desperately bad opening weekend performance, the capital side was defeated by Zebre, who is typically one of the weakest teams in the competition.

According to Brown, “You look at the backdrop of Edinburgh rugby in a brilliant city with a huge rugby following, massive abundance of resources in terms of potential finance and support in the city,” the BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast said.

“Edinburgh Rugby has the potential to have a significant growth club if someone can get that done from the perspective of a managing director or head coach.”

However, I believe it will take a while, and you must give someone time to try to build a club with a completely new image.

That’s exactly what Edinburgh needs, according to someone who I thought about it probably two or three years ago.

After a poor start to the season, Everitt appeared to be under pressure before a late-season improvement in performances and results led to Edinburgh reaching the URC quarter-finals and the Challenge Cup semi-finals.

The South African’s contract expires at the end of the campaign, and he confirmed he hasn’t yet received a new deal offer from Scottish Rugby.

Everitt’s future may depend on what happens next, but Brown thinks that Edinburgh’s issues extend beyond just the head coach.

“Edinburgh seems to be choosing between a Mike Blair or Sean Everitt character,” Brown, who started his career with Edinburgh before establishing his reputation at Glasgow Warriors, and a Richard Cockerill character, which is constantly very authoritarian and very authoritarian.

They just seem to be unable to quite hit that middle-of-the-road sweet spot. You can’t help but notice that this squad is full of Scotland’s starting players.

Why can’t they get results, they ask? They can expect extraordinary outcomes. At the end of last season, we witnessed that in the run for the European play-offs, but they don’t seem to be able to maintain consistency week-over-week. That’s not just a coaching issue, in my opinion.

Working in international football, according to American manager Emma Hayes, is like having a “grandparent” because managers only have time with their players.

The former Chelsea manager described managing the US as “thoroughly enjoyable” after receiving an induction into the National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame.

The 48-year-old described it as “incredible, it really has.” “It’s like having grandkids playing international football. At the end of that time, you send them back to their parents or their clubs and you don’t see them [the players] all the time.

I’ve really enjoyed getting to know new players and working with a country that has been very dear to me and a significant part of my development.

Hayes added that she was “ready for a move away from club football” after a career that saw her win seven league titles with Chelsea, and that her new position allowed her to “zoom out” and use her strategic thinking to concentrate on “long-term solutions.”

She led the team to a gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games just under three months after taking over as US manager.

Although Japan defeated them 2-1 in the final of the invitational SheBelieves Cup in February, they made it to the final.

I didn’t anticipate the transition going to be this way. She said, “I’m enjoying life as an international coach, and it’s been a lot of fun.

Hayes told Delyth Lloyd, a presenter of sport, that she was “proud” of her inclusion in the hall of fame, which includes her along with Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Bob Paisley, and Brian Clough, in a statement released on Radio 4’s Today program.

She continued, “I think it’s a proud day for me and my family, and I think I get the chance to reflect on that once I’ve taken some time off of the work I’ve done at Chelsea.” I’m so happy to be here.

Hayes also praised the performance of Chelsea under new manager Sonia Bompastor, and said her successor had “taken the team” to a whole new level.”

After his passing earlier this month, she also paid tribute to former Liverpool and Chelsea boss Matt Beard, who she said will be remembered as a “great human being.”

He was loved by the players. He “cared about them, he developed them, he created a winning team at Liverpool,” Hayes said. He did it before anyone else was looking, he did it when he didn’t have any money, and he has had a huge impact on the ecosystem [in women’s football].

After breaking the world record for shot-push at the World Paralympics, Sabrina Fortune is hoping to compete in the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The 28-year-old Wrexham native has dominated her competition since winning gold at the 2024 Paris Paralympics and excels in the F20 category for athletes with intellectual disabilities.

With a new world record throw of 16.75 meters, Fortune won the fourth consecutive world title in New Delhi, surpassing her previous mark of 15.75 meters.

Since Los Angeles won’t host the Paralympics until 2028, Fortune thinks her progress will allow her to compete in Glasgow against other people with disabilities.

She stated on BBC Radio 5 Live, “I want to throw in 17.07 million for mainstream Commonwealths,” according to her next endeavor.

I’m pursuing the mainstream instead because my event isn’t in the Paralympics cycle.

The qualifying distance for Welsh Athletics’ B standard women’s shot put qualifies distance for consideration for inclusion in the upcoming Commonwealth Games is 17.07m, while the A standard, which would trigger automatic selection, is 18.24m.

Fortune can continue to enjoy her success thanks to Fortune’s praise for the organization of this World Paralympics while adjusting to India’s extreme heat.

“Everything has been put on so well,” she continued, “but it’s definitely a lot hotter here.”