Pre-season friendly
Tuesday, July 14, 2026
Estádio Algarve, Portugal

SPORTING CP…4
(Geny 25, Braganca 72 & 79, Mangas 75)

CELTIC…1
(Duran 69)

Celtic’s time in Portugal ended with a 4-1 defeat against Sporting CP at the Estádio Algarve this evening in a game where new signing Camilo Duran scored on his first appearance for the club.

Sporting created the first chance of the match when Ricardo Mangas cut in to the box from the left and fired a shot towards goal which Vil Sinisalo dealt with easily. Seconds later, Mangas tried his luck again from the same area, this time dragging his shot wide of the target.

Those opportunities sparked the game in to life, and before long James Forrest tore down the left wing and fired a cross into the box which Sporting dealt with to deny Callum Osmand a point-blank opportunity.

With just over 10 minutes gone, Sporting should have taken the lead when Luke McCowan was dispossessed in the middle of the park, allowing the Portuguese side to break forward at pace. Mozambique internationalist, Geny went through one-on-one against Sinisalo, but the winger’s effort went wide.

Sporting looked dangerous going forward throughout the opening stages, and 25 minutes in to the match, Geny fired them ahead from six yards out. Gabriel Silva got on the end of a through pass into the box and cut the ball back towards the Mozambican who finished tidily from close range to make it 1-0.

Celtic looked to respond but struggled to cause Sporting any big problems at the back, with the Hoops’ best chance coming from a well-taken corner from Luke McCowan. The ball was knocked down in the box and fired towards goal during the stramash but was eventually cleared away by the Sporting defence.

Martin O’Neill made two changes at half time, bringing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Arne Engels on for Paulo Bernardo and Michel-Ange Balikwisha.

Early in the second half, Sporting launched another dangerous attack when Flavio Goncalves spun with the ball at his feet at the halfway line and threaded a pass through for Silva, but Vil Sinisalo read the danger well and gathered the ball before the Sporting man could reach it.

Goncalves went close to doubling his side’s lead soon after when he fired a shot towards goal from the edge of the area. His curling effort hit the side netting, though Sinisalo had dived quickly and looked to have his near post covered anyway.

Luke McCowan had a big opportunity to level the match just before the hour mark when Arne Engels picked him out in the box, but, under pressure from the goalkeeper, McCowan’s effort went wide.

There were then seven changes for Celtic, with Ross Doohan, Adam Montgomery, Maik Nawrocki, Liam Kennedy, Thomas Hatton, Sean McArdle and new signing Camilo Duran all brought on for the remainder of the game. Only Dane Murray and Colby Donovan remained from the side that started the match for Celtic.

Duran’s introduction to life as a Celtic player could not have gone better as, just minutes after coming on, he robbed the ball from Eduardo Quaresma in the penalty box after putting him under pressure and slotted the ball in to the net through the goalkeeper’s legs to make it 1-1 and grab his first Celtic goal.

Just a few minutes later, Sporting took the lead again, capitalising on a mix-up between Ross Doohan and Dane Murray which allowed Daniel Braganca a chance to score and make it 2-1.

Ricardo Mangas made it 3-1 to Sporting soon after, finishing from close range after a good save initially from Ross Doohan. Braganca then got his second of the evening and Sporting’s fourth with a curling effort in to the bottom corner.

With just over five minutes remaining, Martin O’Neill made his final change of the night as Francis Turley was brought on in place of Colby Donovan.

Celtic will head back to Glasgow following tonight’s game and continue their pre-season preparations ahead of Saturday’s match against Middlesbrough at Celtic Park.

Camilo Duran gets off the mark in pre-season friendly