Daizen Maeda struck a superb equaliser as Celtic recovered from a Cameron Carter-Vickers own goal to earn a Champions League point at home to an impressive Club Brugge.
A disastrous defensive mix-up led to Carter-Vickers knocking the ball past goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, while Brugge passed up several good chances before Maeda levelled on the hour.
A VAR offside went against visiting forward Ferran Jutgla and, while both sides had opportunities to win it, a point apiece seemed fair as Celtic finished strongly.
The result leaves Celtic on eight points, with the Belgians one behind in the table.
Next up for Celtic is a trip to Croatia to take on Dinamo Zagreb on 10 December followed by a home game with Young Boys and a visit to Aston Villa.
“We’re still very much on course to get to where we want to get to,” said Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers.
“You want to win but I’ve been here enough times to have lost a game like that. We showed a real strong mentality and we kept pushing right to the very end.
“We weren’t at our level in the first half. Sometimes a game like that can get away from you, but it didn’t. We stayed with it, showed that determination, showed that mentality, never to quit, to keep going. And then we were much better, much freer in the second half.”
Brugge begin with a swagger
After their humbling at the hands of Borussia Dortmund on matchday two, Celtic had found their sea legs in this tournament with a gritty draw away to Atalanta and a classy display to sweep aside RB Leipzig in Glasgow.
The energy, control and attacking verve display against the Bundesliga side was all on show again – unfortunately for Brendan Rodgers it was all being displayed by a Brugge side who took control of proceedings in the first half.
The visitors had served notice of their quality by beating Aston Villa and they oozed confidence as they continually passed through and around the Celtic press, much to the frustration of the home crowd.
Jutgla was lively throughout, asking questions of the Celtic defence, and the midfield duo of Hans Vanaken and Ardon Jashari were dictating the play as Celtic struggle to find a foothold in the match.
It was no surprise when they took the lead, but the manner of it certainly was.
Celtic attempted to play out with some high-risk passes, only for Carter-Vickers to lose his bearings, and sight of his goalkeeper, and pass the ball past Schmeichel and straight into his own net.
It was a calamitous way to concede and captain Callum McGregor gathered his men in a huddle – normally purely a pre-match ritual – to try and get their heads into a game that was passing them by.
Brugge passed up glorious chances to double their lead after the interval, with Maxim De Cuyper thwarted by the fingertips of Schmeichel and Andreas Skov Olsen blazing over – and will feel a more clinical edge would have seen them depart with all three points.
Draw keeps Celtic in healthy position
Despite being second best in that opening period, Celtic still fashioned some decent openings, with Arne Engels blasting over from 10 yards after being teed up by Maeda.
While Brendan Rodgers’ side were at their scintillating best against Leipzig, this was a challenge of a different kind. They struggled for long spells to find their normal fluency.
The Scottish champions were missing a spark and it looked most likely to come from Nicolas Kuhn. One clever dink into the box narrowly evaded Kyogo, while another found the head of Reo Hatate, but he could only divert his effort straight at the keeper.
Maeda’s goal was a fleeting moment of class in a game in which the home side struggled to impose themselves.
The Japan international broke into the box and did brilliantly to chop back inside on his right foot and curl a lovely finish beyond Simon Mignolet and in off the post.
It was a wonderful goal and one that could prove crucial in the final shake-up.
Celtic started to turn the screw and it was they who were pushing late on for a winner, but to no avail.
While Celtic would have targeted three points from this one when the fixtures were released, Rodgers may well be satisfied with a point in the end.
With away fixtures in Zagreb and Villa Park either side of a home match against Young Boys, Celtic know their destiny is still in their own hands as they aim to reach the knockout stage for the first time since 2013.
Rodgers praises for Carter-Vickers’ mentality
“Mistakes happen and it was just unfortunate,” Rodgers said of Carter-Vickers’ own goal. “He’s played that pass a million times and it’s gone back and then we’ve been able to play forward.
“But he’s a really, really tough character. He’s a great guy, he picked himself up.
“He was really strong and aggressive again in the game and got on with it and had a real bravery in the second half, because he was the one carrying the ball forward for us to start the attack.”
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Celtic are unbeaten in their last five Champions League home games (W3 D2), having lost eight of their previous nine at Celtic Park before this (D1).
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Celtic’s Daizen Maeda scored his third Champions League goal this season, the joint-most by a Japanese player in a single campaign (Daichi Kamada in 2022-23 and Shinji Kagawa in 2016-17).
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Maeda’s three goals is the joint-most by a Celtic player in a single campaign, with Moussa Dembele the last player to do so for the club (2016-17).
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Cameron Carter-Vickers became the first Celtic player to net an own goal in the Champions League since Jozo Simunovic against Anderlecht in December 2017.
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Christos Tzolis created four chances, the joint-most on record (since 2003-04) for a Club Brugge player in a Champions League away game.