Julis flies high with a hat-trick that sends Celts to the bottom

Lukas Julis scored a hat-trick as Sparta Prague claimed a stunning 4-1 away win that sent Celtic to the bottom of their Europa League group.

Celtic went into the game on a high after their impressive 2- 0 William Hill Scottish Cup semifinal win over Aberdeen at Ham pde non Sunday ended a rare four-game winless run.

Manager Neil Lennon kept an unchanged side, unsurprisingly, but it was a somewhat calamitous night for the Scottish champions, who came unstuck in a tumultuous spell midway through the first half.

Scott Bain did well to tip a shot from Julis over the crossbar for a corner, but from David Moberg Karlsson ’s delivery, defender David Hancko sent a header against a post and from the rebound Julis, unmarked, lashed the ball high into the net.

Sparta’s second goal, which arrived seconds before the break, came when AdamKa ra bec set up Julis inside the box and he neatly side stepped Hoops midfielder Call um McGregor before curling the ball low past Bain and into the corner of the net.

The half-time interval gave Lennon the chance to sort things out, but Julis soon had the chance for his hat-trick.

Bain ’s slack pass was intercepted by Karabec who shifted it quickly to the Czech striker but he lofted his shot high over.

Lennon brought on Leigh Griffiths and Hatem Elhamed for Mohamed Elyounoussi and skipper Scott Brown.

In the 65 th minute Griffiths played the ball to Tom Rogic and when his shot from inside the area was parried by Sparta keeper Florin Nita, the Hoops substitute raced in to slam the loose ball into the net.

But the visitors scored a classic counter-attacking goal as Moberg Karlsson skipped past Shane Duffy with ease to set up Julis a couple of yards out.

The final nail in Celtic’s coffin came at the end when Borek Dockal curled in a cross for fellow sub Ladislav Krejci to head in.