Match report
Benfica beat Celtic 4-1 at the Estádio da Luz
Benfica beat Celtic 4-1 at the Estádio da Luz in the second round of the Europa League's league stage, building a three-goal half-time lead and never being seriously threatened afterwards. Jhon Durán opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the fifth minute, and the hosts were in command long before the interval.
AI-assisted match report written from official match data.
Alexander Bah doubled the lead in the 23rd minute from a Gianluca Prestianni assist, and Prestianni set up Jhon Durán again in the 36th to make it 3-0. Celtic, who had lost their previous two games, were chasing the match from the opening minutes and went in at the break without a shot at the scoreline.
Camilo Durán pulled one back for the visitors in the 63rd minute, set up by Haissem Hassan, and Celtic ended with as many shots on target as Benfica. Tomás Araújo then supplied the pass for Vangelis Pavlidis to score in the 89th minute and restore the three-goal margin. Celtic have now lost 3 games in a row. Both sides play next on Thursday 22 October, Benfica away to Omonia Nicosia and Celtic at home to Celta Vigo, in the Europa League.
Gianluca Prestianni created two of Benfica's goals, for Bah and Jhon Durán, and was the match's highest-rated player with 8.6. Jhon Durán scored twice and earned a rating of 8.2.
Benfica had 26 shots to Celtic's 14, yet the two sides each put seven on target.
Benfica beat Celtic 4–1 (half-time 3–0).
Benfica met Celtic in the UEFA Europa League (League Stage - 2). Kick-off was Thursday, 15 October 2026, 19:00 UTC at Estádio da Luz. Referee: Nikola Dabanovic.
Team pages: Benfica · Celtic · UEFA Europa League
Key moments
- 5' Goal (penalty): Jhon Durán — 1–0 · Watch Jhon Durán's goal video (5')
- 23' Goal: Alexander Bah (assist: Gianluca Prestianni) — 2–0 · Watch Alexander Bah's goal video (23')
- 36' Goal: Jhon Durán (assist: Gianluca Prestianni) — 3–0 · Watch Jhon Durán's goal video (36')
- 63' Goal: Camilo Durán (assist: Haissem Hassan) — 3–1
- 89' Goal: Vangelis Pavlidis (assist: Tomás Araújo) — 4–1 · Watch Vangelis Pavlidis's goal video (89')
Starting line-ups
Benfica (4-2-3-1)
Celtic (4-2-3-1)
Sirius · Why these numbers
Before kick-off Sirius gave Benfica 79%, the draw 12%, Celtic 9%. It finished Benfica 4–1 Celtic.
Benfica's big strength edge makes this one-sided — We give Benfica 79% mainly because our strength rating has them 255 points clear of Celtic, 1838 to 1583, and home sides in the UEFA Europa League tend to do better than the global norm. The draw sits at 12%, down from a usual 16% for a gap this size, lowered by the competition's draw rate and both teams' recent games averaging 3.8 goals.
Why Benfica at 79%?
Benfica sit 255 points higher on our strength rating — 1838 to 1583. Sides with a more than 240-point rating edge at home won 79.2% of 5,559 such games. UEFA Europa League home sides out-perform the global norm — and the difference mostly flows to draws (23.2% vs 25.4% norm). UEFA Europa League homes won 47.0% of 4,456 games vs 44.6% across all 101,206 — outside the noise band, so the tally moves accordingly. The 300 most similar past games finished 74–16–10.
Why not higher?
No scored evidence points the other way. 79% is what this rating gap has been worth in games like these; the rest is the draw at 12% and Celtic at 9%.
Why is the draw only 12%?
With a rating gap this size the draw starts at 15.5%. These teams' recent games average 3.8 goals — a high-scoring environment. Games in that environment drew 23.2% of 16,922. UEFA Europa League produces fewer draws than most, taking 2.2 points off. The goals environment takes 1.2 points off the draw.
What did we measure but not count?
Benfica have averaged 12 percentage points more possession than Celtic in recent games. That doesn’t change our forecast here. Benfica are unbeaten in their last 29 home Primeira Liga games: 20 wins and 9 draws. The run began on 17 January 2025. Last recorded home league defeat: 4 January 2025 — Benfica 1–2 SC Braga. Latest home league result: 11 October 2026 — Benfica 2–0 Guimaraes. Across 13,715 historical matches following an unbeaten home league run of at least six games, hosts won 56.0%, compared with 54.8% expected from team strength. The other measured facts on this page scored nothing either.
Sirius probabilities, frozen at kick-off. Analysis, not betting advice. How Sirius is doing this season · Full breakdown, evidence cards and squad news in the Match Insights tab
About this match
On this page: the Benfica vs Celtic final score and result, goal highlights and video clips of every goal, who scored, starting lineups, match stats and the full match report from this UEFA Europa League fixture.
- Who scored and when — a goal-by-goal timeline of the match.
- Match stats — possession, shots, expected goals (xG), corners and cards.
- Starting lineups and player ratings for both teams.
- Head-to-head record and recent form for both sides.
- Watch Jhon Durán's goal against Celtic (5').
- Watch Alexander Bah's goal against Celtic (23').
- Watch Jhon Durán's goal against Celtic (36').
- Watch Vangelis Pavlidis's goal against Celtic (89').
Watch the goals: goal highlights and video clips of every goal from Benfica 4–1 Celtic. Explore more on the Benfica and Celtic team pages or the UEFA Europa League page.