Celtic are finally off the mark in the Europa League, and there is still hope that Martin O’Neill’s side can progress into the play-off stages.

It wasn’t easy, and at times it wasn’t even a pleasant watch, but Celtic beat Beşiktaş 3-2 on Thursday night, and now attention will turn to Portugal’s second tier in their quest to stay in the Europa League.

Torreense win again before Celtic visit in the Europa League

While Celtic just recorded their first win in the Europa League, Torreense have been a little bit greedy because they already have two wins to their name.

After narrowly losing to Premier League side Sunderland last time out, they netted TWO stoppage-time goals to beat FC Ararat-Armenia, in a game that saw two red cards.

This was a very lively game because the home side opened the scoring, but were then down to ten men after 25 minutes, and Ararat-Armenia took advantage to go 2-1 ahead by the hour mark.

But in the 76th minute, the opposition were then reduced to ten men, and the game went into chaos mode, with Torreense scoring in the 93rd and 95th minutes to win the game.

Torreense are ahead of some giants in the Europa League table

There are some huge clubs, in dark times, sitting in the Europa League, including Celtic, and many in green and white know the club’s troubles.

But you also have the likes of Juventus and AC Milan in Europe’s second-tier competition, as well as Marseille, including three Premier League sides.

However, after the halfway stage of this league phase in the Europa League, Torreense are heading towards qualification because they are 19th out of 36 in the table.

Torreense are ahead of Real Sociedad, Crystal Palace, Hoffenheim, AC Milan, Marseille and Celtic in the table, to name a few, which is remarkable in itself, given their background story and finances.