ATALANTA 0 CELTIC 0
TRUE GRIT Celtic obliterated the memory of Dortmund with as courageous a performance as you are likely to see against a fired-up Atalanta in Bergamo tonight.
This was an evening where the Hoops players stood up to be counted after the nightmare in Germany three weeks ago.
Everyone was a hero as Brendan Rodgers’ men rolled up their sleeves and ground out a result that could be so valuable at the end of the qualification period.
These players can come back to Scotland with their heads held high and their chests puffed out after one almighty effort to see the job through..
It was not a night in Italy for the faint-hearted, that was for sure.
It took a superb reaction save from Kasper Schmeichel to ensure the Hoops did not concede just before the interval.
UNBEATABLE IN BERGAMO…Kasper Schmeichel kept a crucial clean sheet.
Mario Pasalic, who had been a constant menace, got in front of Liam Scales to snap in a fierce header from eight yards, but the Danish keeper moved swiftly to his right to beat the effort away.
It would have been a travesty if Rodgers’ gallant performers had conceded at that moment after such a commendable display in the opening 45 minutes which carried all the way through to the final whistle.
The Europa League holders were eager to attack right from the start and bombarded the visitors’ penalty box with an assortment of high balls, but Scales and Auston Trusty repelled a high percentage of the persistent air raids.
They lived dangerously, though, in the 18th minute when Pasalic outjumped the Republic of Ireland centre-back to a ball in from Ademola Lookman on the left, but his header thudded against the face of the crossbar.
The Croatian frontman got his head again to the rebound, but this time his effort sailed harmlessly over the top.
There was a determination about this Celtic side that was strangely missing in Dortmund as they scrapped for possession all over the pitch.
GREAT SHIFT…Nicolas Kuhn was perpetual motion until he made way for James Forrest late in the game.
Nicolas Kuhn was rarely seen as an attacking force mainly because the selfless German winger was teaming up with Alistair Johnston to nullify the threat posed on the left from Davide Zappacoste who was an obvious dangerman.
Adam Idah was also doing his utmost to keep the ball up the pitch, but he was finding it difficult to control passes on a skiddy surface and his touch was often heavy.
Daizen Maeda was running free of the left as he was given excellent service from countryman Reo Hatate and on-Barcelona left-back Alex Valle.
The game swung from end to end as a ferocious pace and both teams had their chances, but, thanks to Schmeichel’s diving save, it remained goalless after an entertaining first-half.
The nearest Celtic had come to breaking the barrier was in the 23rd minute when Arne Engels, another who gave his all until he made way late in the game, sizzled in a low drive from outside the box, but Marco Carnesecchi was equal to the task and stretched to his list to fist the drive to safety.
The keeper was in action again four minutes from the break when he took off again in flying action to push away a cross from Maeda with Idah ready to pounce.
A BIG HAND…Brendan Rodgers acknowledges the travelling support.
Six minutes after the turnaround, Valle almost became the unlikely Celtic marksman when he left fly with a vicious 25-yard left-footer that saw the keeper acrobatically tip the ball over the bar.
In the 68th minute, Rodgers made a double substitution when he put on Paulo Bernardo and Kyogo Furuhashi for the tiring duo of Hatate and Idah.
Seven minutes later, Luke McCowan and Luis Palma entered the action with Engels and Maeda making way and James Forrest was the final sub in the 61st minute as he came on for the exhausted Kuhn.
There were some anxious moments as the game went into four minutes of stoppage-time, but the visitors stood firm against the last-gasp onslaughts of the desperate hosts to dig out a crucial point.
Take a bow, Bhoys!
TEAM: Schmeichel; Johnston, Trusty, Scales, Valle; Engels (sub: McCowan 75), McGregor, Hatate (sub: Bernardo 68); Kuhn (sub: Forrest 81), Idah (sub: Kyogo 68), Maeda (sub: Palma 75).
