Celtic suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat at home in the first leg of the Europa League knockout round play-off, marking Martin O’Neill’s 1,000th managerial match on Thursday.
Stuttgart took the lead in the 15th minute when Bilal El Khannouss skillfully slotted the ball past goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
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Benjamin Nygren’s opportunistic strike equalized for Celtic after capitalizing on a defensive error, but that briefly restored hope would be short-lived.
El Khannouss quickly reclaimed the advantage for Stuttgart, heading in a cross from Angelo Stiller. He nearly added another goal in the 35th minute but missed the target.
Jamie Leweling missed a chance to extend Stuttgart’s lead before halftime, sending a close-range shot high over the crossbar.
In the 57th minute, Leweling finally made his mark, driving the ball past a helpless Schmeichel to make it 3-1.
Ermedin Demirovic thought he had scored again for Stuttgart, but his goal was disallowed for offside. Alexander Nubel then delivered a crucial save to keep Nygren from reducing the deficit for Celtic.
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Nikolas Nartey came close to securing a three-goal lead but headed wide from a promising position before Tiago Tomas sealed the match with a goal in stoppage time, making it 4-1.
Julian Araujo missed a golden opportunity for Celtic to get back into the game, failing to find the net with an open goal in sight.