Who Celtic can face next in Europa League as fast start eclipses jitters and fans' Rangers taunts

This 4-2 win did not come without a belch midway through the match when Utrecht whittled away at a three-goal deficit to move within one strike with half-an-hour to go, but the Dutch visitors showed why they came here with no hope of qualification themselves. They must be one of the poorest teams in the competition.

Celtic finish on 11 points and in 21st place. As a consequence they will play a two-legged tie to reach the last 16 against either Stuttgart or Ferencvaros, with the first leg at home on February 19. The draw takes place on Friday.

They will need to up their game, particularly defensively. Better teams will beat Celtic in Europe. This was another reminder that reinforcements are so desperately required in the final days of the transfer window.

The current crop did enough. The prolific Benjamin Nygren, Arne Engels and Auston Trusty got on the scoresheet, and there was help from their hapless opponents in an own goal and goalkeeping calamity from an old 'friend'.

Celtic made the breakthrough on six minutes when Nygren tapped in from close range after a precise cutback from Kieran Tierney to get the ideal start.

They were given a bit of assistance from a former Celt in Utrecht goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas four minutes later. The Greek was a £5 million flop when bought from AEK Athens in 2020 and has since found sanctuary in the Netherlands. His return to Glasgow did not go well.

He left a pass out to his defender Mike van der Hoorn short and Nygren pounced. He squared the ball across goal and unfortunate Utrecht captain Nick Viergever put through his own net. Had he not, Daizen Maeda behind him would have capitalised.

Utrecht arrived with nothing but pride to play for but they appeared to abandon even the notion of scrapping for that. Come the 21st minute, they were 3-0 down. Referee Mohammad Al-Emara was advised to check a Dani de Wit handball in the box by VAR and he pointed to the spot. Arne Engels rattled the conversion high past Barkas.

Utrecht had brought a lively, noisy travelling support. Their passion did not diminish even if their team had given up the ghost. "Always look on the bright side of life," the jolly Dutch bunch sung, before goading the home fans with "there's only one team in Glasgow" and "we love you Rangers, we do".

Utrecht were certainly winning the contest off the pitch and they made a minor statement on it right on 45 minutes. Celtic had been idling their way towards the break and the visitors seized upon the torpor when De Wit fizzed a low shot past a stranded Kasper Schmeichel. The Danish keeper then did really well to turn a Niklas Vesterlund past the post.

It was a reminder that goals can be too easily nabbed off this Celtic team.

Utrecht were clearly imbued with some confidence by that strike and they were far more lively in the second period. Celtic Park got a little nervy - and the jitters increased significantly on 63 minutes when Adrian Blake curled a shot from range past Schmeichel.

The good thing for Celtic was that Utrecht were far from watertight. Celtic won a corner on 66 minutes and Trusty glanced a header high beyond Barkas to quell the threat of a comeback.