There was to be no second half collapse this time. Ange Postecoglou got close to the 90-minute performance he craved against Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw if not quite the victory that it deserved.
After being given the runaround by Real Madrid in the latter stages in Glasgow a week ago, Celtic demonstrated that they have the staying power required at this level.
By the end of an impressive, controlled display, a first point in this campaign felt like a meagre reward for their efforts. They will play worse and win games at this level.
Ange Postecoglou got close to the 90-minute performance he craved against Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw if not quite the victory that it deserved
Artem Bondarenko scored an own goal in the opening 10 minutes to give Celtic the lead
Having dominated from the off and hit the front through Artem Bondarenko’s own goal, a comfortable victory briefly looked to be on the cards.
Shakhtar’s response came through a sumptuous counter-attack finished by Mykhailo Mudryk but it was short-lived.
Aside from a brief spell after the equaliser, Celtic were markedly the better side.
Stretching back to Anderlecht five years ago, the wait to win on the road in this competition goes on but only a failure to convert a hatful of chances made that the case.
Postecoglou handed Sead Haksabanovic his first start with the winger’s deployment on the left flank pushing Jota to the right.
Gone are the days when Shakhtar’s side boasted a backbone of South American talent. Shorn of almost all of their foreign imports as a result of the Russian invasion, the only non-Ukrainian in their side was Brazilian left-back Lucas Taylor. Marian Shved, once of Celtic, featured on the right.
Predictions by Shakhtar manager Igor Jovicevic that up to 30,000 exiled Ukrainians would be on hand to roar his team on proved to be wishful think.
The exiled club’s ‘home’ in Europe, Legia Warsaw’s stadium was a long way short of capacity. There was certainly no wall of noise to intimidate Postecoglou’s side.
The pervading feeling was that if Celtic could come close to matching their first-half display against Madrid they would take some stopping.
They certainly sprang from the traps. Only the boot of the advancing Anatoliy Trubin prevented Kyogo Furuhashi clipping Matt O’Riley’s measured pass home inside two minutes.
Shakhtar already looked rattled. A neat interchange between Greg Taylor and Haksabanovic down the left saw the latter roll the ball at pace across the six yard box. The lurking Furuhashi was only inches away from converting.
When O’Riley then headed a Jota cross into the arms of the Shakhtar keeper, the opener only felt a matter of time.
It came in 11 minutes and stemmed from the Ukrainians’ first venture up the field. Indecision on the part of Mykhailo Mudryk invited Josip Juranovic to clear his lines. The full-back did more than that.
Shakhtar’s response came through a sumptuous counter-attack finished by Mykhailo Mudryk in the 29th minute. However, it was short-lived. Celtic were the better side on the night
With Shakhtar stretched numerically, Juranovic’s 60-yard cross field pass was picked up by Haksabanovic. He drove forward into the box unchallenged and picked out the underlapping Hatate.
The midfielder’s shot was deflected towards goal by Artem Bondarenko and initially looked like it might have needed a hand to take it over the line. Furuhashi resisted the temptation to tap it in and ran to celebrate with his compatriot.
How the 3,000 visiting fans enjoyed a first Champions League goal on the road since Moussa Dembele against Paris Saint-Germain five years ago.
Moritz Jenz came close to doubling the advantage with a fierce drive which rebounded off the keeper’s legs. A second Celtic goal would not have been ill-deserved on the early balance of play.
Postecoglou handed Sead Haksabanovic his first start with the winger’s deployment on the left flank pushing Jota to the right
But Shakhtar did belatedly get a foothold in the contest. You could not say, though, that their equaliser had been coming.
It was a finely crafted goal. Yukhym Konoplia’s ball from the centre to the left cut Celtic open and gave Mudryk two yards of a start on Juranovic.
As fast as the Croatian is, he just couldn’t make up the ground. Mudryk moved the ball from his right foot to his left and emphatically thumped it high into the net.
Believed to be moving to Arsenal in January, Shakhtar’s No 10 added a few pounds to his value here with an eye-catching display.
Having been so on top in the early stages, this was another reminder for Celtic of the need to be clinical at this level.
Juranovic was involved in a lot of Celtic’s successful attacks against Shakhtar on Wednesday
Shakhtar had turned over Leipzig on the counter attack last week and now they fancied retreating the trick. Hart bravely saved Konoplia’s cross to prevent the game being quickly turned on its head then dived to his right to turn Shved’s curling effort away for a corner.
Jota had been unusually quiet but a mazy run on the cusp of half-time ended with a deflection taking the sting out of his shot.
The Portuguese was shifted to his preferred left in the second half as Daizen Maeda replaced Haksabanovic and immediately saw his shot fumbled by Trubin.
A fabulous weaving run by Jota then eliminated five orange shirts only for Konoplia’s sliding block to save the day.
It became a game of cat and mouse. Celtic passed and probed while mindful that one wrong move on the front foot might be extremely costly.
Matt O’Riley was only denied Celtic’s second by the strong left arm of Trubin after drilling a low shot from 20 yards.
Sensing that Shakhtar may have burned themselves out, Postecoglou threw on Giorgos Giakoumakis, Aaron Mooy and David Turnbull with 22 minutes remaining.
Another Shakhtar error set Jota off on another slalom through their defence. He resisted two opportunities to shoot and by the time he did let fly Valeriy Bondar slid in and blocked.
A selfless knock-down from Giakoumakis set up Maeda but the winger was falling as he shot and a deflection took the ball behind.
Outstanding again here, Greg Taylor’s cut-back set up Giakoumakis for what should have been the winner with five minutes left. With time to pick his spot, the Greek somehow fired wide from 12 yards.
Only one side looked like winning it late on. Stretching to meet Juranovic’s cross at the far post, Maeda couldn’t get his shot on target.
Shakhtar held on for a scarcely deserved point. Celtic will feel they ought to have all three but will be encouraged by the fact they are at least on the board in the group.
More to follow…
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