Following a damaging loss in the Scottish Premiership to Hearts, things got worse for Celtic after just six minutes here when Liam Scales did his best impression of a Roma centre-forward, leaping highest at Matias Soule’s corner and sending a bullet header in off the crossbar for an own goal.
Off-target efforts from Stephan El Shaarawy and Zeki Celik failed to worsen the Bhoys’ poor start, but the hosts continued to be the architects of their own downfall, as giving the ball away deep in their own half resulted in Evan Ferguson blasting a shot against the post.
Kasper Schmeichel reacted well to stop a Soule strike finding the bottom corner as Roma’s unrelenting attack continued, and they grabbed a deserved second nine minutes before half-time, with a determined attack down the right, with Celik squaring for Ferguson to turn home his first UEL goal.
Going 2-0 down finally woke the home attack up, but when Reo Hatate was played through on goal soon after, he could only balloon his shot over.
That miss was swiftly punished in stoppage time, as Soul drilled a ball into Ferguson, who turned and powered his second past Schmeichel.
There was still time for Celtic to be handed a lifeline when Mario Hermoso pulled Arne Engels down inside the box, yet the hosts’ misery was compounded when Engels’ penalty struck the post and bounced out.
Kelechi Iheanacho was one of three players Nancy threw on at the break to change the game, yet the Nigerian was guilty of spurning a huge opportunity eight minutes after the restart, missing the target from 10 yards out with Mile Slivar rooted.
Celtic kept plugging away and thought they had their reward after the hour mark when Iheanacho prodded home Engels’ cross, only for VAR to chalk the goal off for offside.
The Giallorossi thought they had rubbed salt in the wounds when their substitute Leon Bailey curled the ball into the back of the net five minutes after coming on, but he too was denied by VAR for offside.
Schmeichel’s foot was next to thwart the goal-hungry Bailey, but three was plenty for Roma, who are within a point of the top eight in the league phase. A second home UEL loss leaves the Hoops clinging onto the 24th and final qualifying place.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Evan Ferguson (Roma)