Baumgartner heads in opener but Kuhn lifts in stunning leveller before giving hosts lead before break
Hatate forces in third after Gulacsi spills Johnston cross
Rodgers' side now have seven points from opening four games
Leipzig yet to register a point in league phase
FT: Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland at Celtic Park
Image source, SNS
Image source, SNS
Image source, SNSWhat a night at Celtic Park. A brilliant and significant win for Brendan Rodgers' side.
Maybe, given the opposition, their best showing in Europe for a long while.
Celtic Park was electric, who needs fireworks? A night to remember for Celtic players and supporters.
Image source, SNSNicolas Kuhn became the first Celtic player to score two goals in the first half of a Champions League/European Cup match since Roy Aitken in October 1979, against Partizana Tirana.
The German winger has been directly involved in 19 goals (nine goals, 10 assists) for Celtic in all competitions this season, at least seven more than any of his teammates.
Celtic’s seven points (W2 D1 L1) is already their most in a Champions League campaign since 2012-13 (10), while they last netted more goals (currently nine in 2024-25) in a Champions League/European Cup campaign in 1977-78 (13).
FT: Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
Image source, SNSWhen asked if this his the most significant European result as a manager, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers responds: "Yeah, I think so in level of opponent.
"It wasn't just the result, it was the performance. We played the game with great charisma and confidence and showed the courage in our pressing.
"To play to that level, that would definitely be the best one."
FT: Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "The supporters were great with how they stayed with the team, they trusted what they were seeing.
"We have to build step by step to make this a difficult place to be. RB Leipzig are a top side, they will say that was a real difficult game for them tonight.
"We have to stay humble in our work, we can't get too far ahead of ourselves. We played so well tonight, we sit in a really good place, we now just focus on our next game and see where it takes us."
FT: Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "It gives us real, nice confidence. We've discovered in the last two games we can be really competitive.
"If you told us after the Dortmund game we'd have four points from the next two games, I don't think too many people would have said we would have done that.
"It's a great next step and gives us great encouragement to go and make the play-off stage, but there is still so much to do."
FT: Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers on Nicolas Kuhn: "His second goal really pleased me because you need to play with real courage to press against a side who have so much speed.
"We really stayed on it, win the ball back high up the pitch, Reo [Hatate] produces a great piece of skill, then we get a cross into the box, get those wingers coming in, it was a really nice way to finish the half.
"Some of our football second half was outstanding. Controlling and managing the game really well, our win was really deserved."
Image source, SNSFT: Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "We had the combination of the vibrancy and excitement in attack from the Bratislava game and then the real tactical discipline in our defending from Atalanta.
"And we really pulled that together to produce an outstanding team performance against a really, really good sides.
"I tip my hat to the players."
Image source, SNSManager Brendan Rodgers has taken his seat at his press conference and is now taking questions from the media.
You can listen live on Sportsound.
We'll have quotes from the Celtic boss right here in a bit...
Image source, SNSAcross nine games in the Bundesliga this season, Leipzig have conceded just five goals.
Tonight alone, Celtic scored three against them.
FT: Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
James McFadden
Former Scotland forward on BBC Sportsound
Celtic stuck with it, with how they want to play. They've gained so much control within that.
They were always going to be put under pressure, especially defensively with set plays.
They rode it out and did it their way. They've not changed and kept their belief.
Celtic have won three consecutive Champions League home games for the first time since November 2007, under Gordan Strachan.
FT: Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
On his first goal, Celtic winger Nicolas Kuhn tells TNT Sports: "Of course it's a shot! I went into one of my dribbles, saw the shot and decided to shoot.
"It's what dreams are made of, even better to score against my old club.
"At home everything is possible with our fans as we showed it today."
Celtic winger Kuhn registered 50 touches across the evening
FT: Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
James McFadden
Former Scotland forward on BBC Sportsound
It was outstanding. Celtic had a spell in the first half where in the past, they might not have been able to stand up to the challenge and pressure from RB Leipzig or whoever else.
They came through that, totally dominated the second half.
If you give the fans something to cheer, this place is unbelievable.
FT: Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
Pat Nevin
Former Scotland winger on BBC Sportsound
Give Kuhn his moment, but give every player their moment. They were all eights and nines tonight.
Nine-and-a-half from McGregor, he was extraordinary.
Celtic are a better team than RB Leipzig. It's not a one-off, or a bit of luck. Celtic, player for player, are better than RB Leipzig.
I'm not mildly surprised by this.
FT: Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
On Joe Hart's assessment that Callum McGregor "ran the show" at Celtic Park, the captain misplaced just three of his 80 passes.
FT: Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
Joe Hart
Former Celtic goalkeeper on TNT Sports
It was a really, really, really great European performance tonight.
The quality they showed throughout the game, Callum McGregor ran the show while Nicolas Kuhn sparkled.
FT: Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
Neil Lennon
Former Celtic manager on TNT Sports
This was one of the best home performances from a Celtic side since Martin O'Neill's days.
A joy to watch.
Image source, SNSFT: Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
Tom English
BBC Scotland's chief sports writer on Sportsound
Immense, it's Celtic's best victory in any competition since they beat Lazio in Rome five years ago.
Their best in the Champions League since beating Barcelona 12 years ago. We're talking about a fairly historic night.
They look like they've grown up as a Champions League team.
Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig
A sensational result and performance from Brendan Rodgers' Celtic.
After going one down, a Nicolas Kuhn double and Reo Hatate's finish after the break sinks RB Leipzig.
Image source, SNSKuhn the hero as Celtic produce comeback win over RB Leipzig
The outstanding Nicolas Kuhn inspired Celtic as they came from behind against Germany's RB Leipzig to earn an exhilarating third Champions League home victory in a row at an exuberant Celtic Park.
Following their six-goal League Cup thrashing of Aberdeen on Saturday, and a hard-fought point away to Atalanta in the previous matchday, hopes were high for this game despite Leipzig's status as top seeds.
Celtic lived up to expectations with a blistering start, but Leipzig – who are still searching for their first point in the competition – punctured their positivity with Christoph Baumgartner’s neat nod from a corner.
Celtic had lost in 27 of the 28 previous Champions League games in which they had gone behind, but they picked themselves up here.
Continuing his exceptional start to the season – 17 goal contributions in 15 games before this – Kuhn cut in from the right and curled an audacious strike in off a post.
The stadium was still bouncing when German winger Kuhn stroked in from just outside the six-yard box after Daizen Maeda’s fresh air swipe allowed Greg Taylor's cutback to reach him just before the break.
Brendan Rodgers’ side maintained their high levels after the interval and were rewarded when the brilliant Reo Hatate lashed in a third and ensured Celtic's second victory of this campaign.
When Celtic last met a German side in the Champions League on the back of a 6-0 domestic win, they were dismantled in Dortmund earlier in this campaign.
Though that was only just over a month ago, the Scottish champions appear to have taken their medicine and were much more streetwise in familiar surroundings.
Sprinting out the blocks, they did not allow their visitors to breathe at the back and swarmed in their numbers at every opportunity.
Key to that was Kuhn. The RB Leipzig academy product taught the German side a lesson with a sensational display. Playing with freedom and flair, the 24-year-old was, once again, tremendous on the right.
In truth, Celtic as a team taught Leipzig - a side sitting second in the Bundesliga - a lesson. They repeatedly asked questions and their visitors had no answers.
When Kuhn did depart to a rapturous round of applause, Hatate took over as the talisman of this tremendous side.
It’s been a long, long wait for three home wins in a row for Celtic in this competition. A 17-year wait. Through that spell, the tales of the fortress this cauldron used to be seemed a distant memory.
This brought them back to light. The Feyenoord win last season was a dead rubber; the Slovan Bratislava victory earlier this term was expected; but this was a statement. And a convincing one at that.
'My best European victory' - Rodgers
The messages coming from the German media were this was a must-win for Leipzig.
They were dealt a daunting start to this new format, with games against Atletico Madrid, Juventus and Liverpool, so a trip to Scotland was viewed as the kick-starter.
But Marco Rose’s side never got going. They looked spooked at Celtic’s high press.
While they’ve struggled in the Champions League, this is a team at the top end of the Bundesliga, three points behind leaders Bayern.
But Leipzig couldn't contain a quick, fit and sharp Celtic. They lacked in every department.
Benjamin Sesko has been the saviour so often for them but was nowhere to be seen here.
He and his colleagues will need to show up if the top-seeded Germans are to sneak through, but with Inter Milan, Sporting and Aston Villa waiting it's an uphill task.
Celtic have won three consecutive Champions League home games for the first time since November 2007, under Gordon Strachan.
RB Leipzig are the first German side to lose their first four Champions League games in a single campaign since Stuttgart in 2007-08.
Nicolas Kuhn became the first Celtic player to score two goals in the first half of a Champions League/European Cup match since Roy Aitken in October 1979, against Partizani Tirana.
Celtic last netted more goals (currently nine this term) in a Champions League/European Cup campaign in 1977-78 (13).
Kuhn has been directly involved in 19 goals (nine goals, 10 assists) for Celtic in all competitions this season - at least seven more than any of his team-mates.
The 38-year-old Kasper Schmeichel became the joint-oldest player to play in a Champions League match on his birthday, along with David Seaman for Arsenal against Schalke in September 2001.
| Position | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points | Form, Last 6 games, Oldest first |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 12 |
| |
| 2 | Sporting CP | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 10 |
|
| 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| |
| 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 9 |
| |
| 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 9 |
| |
| 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 7 |
| |
| 7 | Brest | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
|
| 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| |
| 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| |
| 10 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| |
| 11 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| |
| 12 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| |
| 13 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 7 |
| |
| 14 | Dinamo Zagreb | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 7 |
|
| 15 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 6 |
| |
| 16 | Benfica | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
|
| 17 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 6 |
| |
| 18 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 6 |
| |
| 19 | Feyenoord | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 6 |
|
| 20 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| |
| 21 | PSV | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
|
| 22 | Stuttgart | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 4 |
|
| 23 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 4 |
| |
| 24 | Sparta Prague | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 4 |
|
| 25 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 3 |
| |
| 26 | Girona | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 8 | -4 | 3 |
|
| 27 | Club Brugge | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 3 |
|
| 28 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | -5 | 3 |
| |
| 29 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | -4 | 1 |
|
| 30 | Bologna | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 | -5 | 1 |
|
| 31 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 9 | -5 | 0 |
| |
| 32 | Sturm Graz | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6 | -5 | 0 |
|
| 33 | Red Star Belgrade | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 11 | -9 | 0 |
|
| 34 | Red Bull Salzburg | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | -9 | 0 |
|
| 35 | Young Boys | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | -9 | 0 |
|
| 36 | Slovan Bratislava | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 15 | -13 | 0 |
|
Manager: Brendan Rodgers
Formation: 4 - 3 - 3
Manager: Marco Rose
Formation: 4 - 4 - 2
Manager: Brendan Rodgers
Formation: 4 - 3 - 3
Manager: Marco Rose
Formation: 4 - 4 - 2
UEFA Champions League
All competitions
All competitions
All competitions
Celtic and RB Leipzig have met four times previously in major European competition, with the German side triumphing three times; Celtic won the other game 2-1 in November 2018 in the UEFA Europa League.
RB Leipzig have lost two of their three away European matches in Scotland but the other game was a victory at Celtic Park in October 2022 in the UEFA Champions League.
Celtic have picked up four points in three games in the UEFA Champions League this season (W1 D1 L1), already equalling their total from 2023-24 (W1 D1 L4). They last won more in the 2012-13 campaign (10).
RB Leipzig have lost all three of their UEFA Champions League matches this season. Only two German teams have lost their first four games in a Champions League season: Hamburger in 2006-07 and Stuttgart in 2007-08.
Celtic kept a clean sheet in their last UEFA Champions League game, drawing 0-0 with Atalanta. They haven’t kept consecutive clean sheets in the same campaign in the 2006-07 season against FC København and Benfica.
Only two teams have applied more high pressures to opponents than RB Leipzig (1,167) in the UEFA Champions League this season. Eight different Leipzig players have applied 100+ high pressures (Sesko, Openda, Simons, Baumgartner, Haidara, Nusa, Vermeeren, Henrichs), two more than any other club.
After a run of 12 home games without a win at Celtic Park in the UEFA Champions League between 2013 and 2023 (D3 L9), Celtic have won their last two home games. They last had three wins in a row back in November 2007 under manager Gordon Strachan.
All three of RB Leipzig’s goals in the UEFA Champions League this season have been scored by Benjamin Sesko from 10 shots; all other players have had 34 shots without finding the net.
Across MD2 and MD3 of this season’s UEFA Champions League, only three goalkeepers made more saves than Celtic’s Kasper Schmeichel (12). This game will be played on his 38th birthday, which would make him the joint oldest player to appear on his birthday, alongside David Seaman in September 2001 for Arsenal.
Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi has scored three goals in his last four home UEFA Champions League appearances. The only player to score more times at Celtic Park for the Bhoys is Chris Sutton (5 in 8 games).
