Dazien Maeda rescued a Champions League point for Celtic after Cameron Carter-Vickers’ calamitous own goal against Club Brugge.
The Hoops knew a third home win would take them to the verge of the knockout stages but it was a nightmare start as Cameron Carter-Vickers inexplicably put the ball into his own net.
Brendan Rodgers’ side struggled to find the brilliance they showed in their win against RB Leipzig last time out as the Belgians dominated the first half in front of a sell-out crowd.
But they did apply some pressure after the break and Maeda curled in a wonderful strike off the post to pull them level with Ferran Jutgla’s strike for Brugge then disallowed for offside following a VAR check.
A precious draw sees Celtic remain among the top 24 sides in the competition with three games left. Club Brugge are one point behind and also still in contention for the knockout stages.
Celtic keep hopes of Champions League progression alive
Despite the visitors’ superiority, Schmeichel had not had a save to make before being beaten by Carter-Vickers. The Celtic goalkeeper summoned his team-mates to give them his thoughts on what was going wrong.
The home team offered more of a threat before the interval, mainly through the wing play of Kuhn, who twice almost set up Kyogo Furuhashi and then did find Reo Hatate, whose glancing header was comfortably saved.
Hatate shot wide from 22 yards after the interval but the game twice nearly drifted further away from the Scottish champions in the early stages of the second half.
Schmeichel pulled off an excellent stop from Maxim De Cuyper after the left-back broke forward and burst past Auston Trusty’s attempted tackle. Andreas Skov Olsen then blazed over from eight yards after a deep cross found him unmarked.
Brendan Rodgers made a double switch as Paulo Bernardo and Alex Valle came on and the latter immediately set up the equaliser with a well-weighted pass, although Maeda effectively made the goal himself.
There was a further twist 10 minutes later when Jutgla had a goal disallowed following a VAR check after stabbing home from 10 yards after Celtic could not defend a cross. A marginal offside came to the hosts’ rescue.
Bernardo made a difference to Celtic’s midfield after replacing Engels and the Portugal Under-21 international came closest to winning the game for the Hoops when he shot just wide from 20 yards after good skill.
Rodgers’ side kept the pressure on but there was no clear-cut opportunity in the final stages.
