Highly emotional after Celtic played away (7)
I believe the answer is:
cheated
'played away' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to competing as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'highly emotional after celtic' is the wordplay.
'highly emotional' becomes 'heated' (I've seen this in another clue).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'celtic' becomes 'C'.
'heated' put after 'c' is 'CHEATED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cheated that I've seen before include "Defeated through deceit" , "taken for a ride" , "Behaved dishonestly" , "stung" .)