Champions League playoffs, Celtic win 3-0: first-leg picture complete

This morning’s article had published the results of the first night of the 2026/27 Champions League playoffs and left the picture of the second night open. The new development is that the picture is now complete: the remaining four first-leg matches were played on 19 August.

The clearest result comes from Glasgow. Celtic beat LASK Linz 3-0: Benjamin Nygren opened the scoring in the 26th minute, followed by a Camilo Durán brace in the 38th and 67th minutes. The details are in the reports from Sky Sport and Sportpress24, as well as in the summary from Calcio Magazine, all based on the official results of the UEFA competitions.

A three-goal margin at home in the first leg is, in the mathematics of a playoff tie, the condition that comes closest to qualification without guaranteeing it: the second leg in Austria will be played on a margin that requires LASK to score at least three times to level the tie, and Celtic to concede nothing.

The second notable result of the evening comes from the Netherlands: Bodø/Glimt won away at NEC Nijmegen. An away win in the first leg is the result that carries the most weight in this format, as it gives the Norwegian side a home second leg with an advantage to manage.

Of the four matches on the schedule, there are two for which we do not, at the time of publication, have sufficient confirmation of the score: we prefer not to report the outcome until it can be verified against our sources.

The schedule. The second legs will be played on 25 and 26 August. The draw for the league phase is set for 27 August: only a few hours will pass between the end of the last playoff match and the composition of the bracket, which explains why UEFA concentrates all the matches from these rounds into just two evenings.

First leg (19 August)	Result
Celtic-LASK Linz	3-0
NEC Nijmegen-Bodø/Glimt	Bodø/Glimt win

It is worth noting one element from the previous round, as it helps in reading the bracket: Hapoel Beer Sheva had qualified by eliminating Red Star with an aggregate score of 3-0. In the longest qualifying path of the European calendar, the teams that reach the playoffs having already won a two-legged tie decisively are the ones that have expended less effort managing the result.

The figure that describes what is at stake remains that of the format: the playoffs produce the places that complete the league phase, and each second leg on 25 and 26 August will decide an entry into or a drop down from the second-tier European competition. On 27 August the draw will work from a closed list.