Celtic progressed to the play-off round of the Champions League on Wednesday following a goalless draw with Elfsborg in the second leg of their third qualifying round tie.
The Scottish champions’ slender 1-0 advantage from last week’s match in Glasgow proved to be enough as they took the next step on their long journey to reach the lucrative group stages of Europe’s elite club competition.
Mo Bangura, on loan from Celtic, came close to scoring against his parent club with an acrobatic effort from the edge of the box before both Georgios Samaras and Joe Ledley spurned glorious chances to put the visitors in front.
The Hoops didn’t have it all their own way against the Swedish champions, who went on the front foot in the second period, but James Keene had a penalty claim turned down as Elfsborg couldn’t find the goal that would have forced extra time.
Celtic, who are seeded, could now be paired with Austria Vienna, Maribor of Slovenia, Shakther Karagandy of Kazakhstan, Ludogorets Razgrad of Bulgaria or Poland’s Legia Warsaw in Friday’s play-off round draw, and manager Neil Lennon was a happy man as his side’s European adventure continued.
“I thought we should have had the tie out of sight after 20 minutes with Samaras’ header which you would have put your money on him to score and then the keeper’s made an unbelievable save from Joe Ledley,” he said.
“We had to scrap a bit. We weren’t at our best and we know that. These are tough games at this stage of the season against the Swedish champions but this was a brilliant result for us and gives us a bit of time to prepare for the next round.”