Celtic were given a footballing lesson by Red Bull Salzburg as the visitors deservedly won 2-1 at Celtic Park, but Brendan Rodgers' side still progressed to the Europa League knockout stages after RB Leipzig failed to beat Rosenborg
On a bizarre night, Munas Dabbur headed home a Stefan Lainer cross midway through the second half to finally hammer home Salzburg's superiority, after they had spurned a raft of chances
Craig Gordon made two outstanding saves to keep his team level in the first half, as Celtic were at times overwhelmed by the classy Austrian side
 But the goalkeeper then made a horrendous blunder with 13 minutes left, gifting the ball to Fredrik Gulbrandsen for an easy tap-in to seemingly end hopes of a comeback
As the game petered out, Rosenborg's equaliser in Germany raised the roof in Glasgow's east end, and Olivier Ntcham's late penalty helped raise spirits further
 At the final whistle, the home and away fans celebrated in unison - both can now look forward to European football in the new year
Despite qualification, it was a dispiriting night for Rodgers; his team lacked a goal threat and cohesion in midfield, and he also lost Ryan Christie to what appeared to be a serious ankle injury
 Mikael Lustig was also forced off early with a head knock
At times, Celtic were a shadow of what they have shown in domestic competition in recent weeks
 They only required a point to progress to the last 32, and did start on the front foot
On three minutes Scott Sinclair hit the bye-line and looked for James Forrest, but the cross was just too high for the Scotland winger to connect properly
 Salzburg went straight up the park, and Zlatko Junuzovic's header from 12 yards had Gordon at full stretch tipping it over
The home support displayed their affection for the absent Leigh Griffiths in the ninth minute
 The striker's name rang round the stadium and fans displayed a banner showing support for Griffiths, who will be absent from football for some time as he tackles personal issues
Salzburg had oozed class throughout this group, and they began to display that in abundance
 They were inches away from a lead when Diadie Samassekou's header smacked the bar, landed on the line and was headed away by Christie for a corner
 From that, Gordon was forced to cling on to a near-post flick, as Celtic's defence looked unstable at times
Lustig had been flattened at a corner and looked groggy, and was finally replaced after just 20 minutes by Kristoffer Ajer
 The switch added to the uncertainty in the home ranks, as Salzburg bossed proceedings, with Celtic's midfield trio of Callum McGregor, Christie and Tom Rogic, so effective in recent weeks, largely subdued
Rogic, in particular, was all at sea, unable to make a pass or hold onto the ball when presented with it
 It was the kind of testing European evening that looked well suited for Scott Brown, but the club captain was watching from the bench
On the half hour, Ajer gifted the ball to Hannes Wolf who ran clean through on Gordon, but the goalkeeper brilliantly got a hand to the low shot and turned it behind
 Celtic were in danger of being run ragged, but suddenly they fashioned a rare chance through Forrest, who broke clear on the right and fizzed a low ball across the six-yard line
 Sinclair and Edouard both failed to attack it, as Forrest stood with arms aloft in frustration
Somehow Celtic reached the break unscathed, though Salzburg's domination was reflected in stats that showed the visitors with 60 per cent of possession
Brown was, perhaps unsurprisingly, brought on, with Sinclair making way, as Rodgers looked to get a grip on the game in midfield
 Forrest pushed forward alongside Edouard and suddenly Salzburg had something to think about
 McGregor's corner found Benkovic, whose header was scrambled clear by the Austrian defence with Ajer ready to pounce
Celtic suffered another blow shortly afterwards, when Christie was stretchered off after injuring his ankle as he made a tremendous block on Takumi Minamino who was preparing to shoot
 Play was halted for several minutes as the midfielder was fitted with a splint before departing, with Ntcham coming on in his place
Rodgers had now used all his substitutes, but Celtic looked more solid than at any other time in the game, with Brown's influence growing
 Ironically, it was then that Salzburg took the lead; Dabbur, who scored twice against Celtic when the sides met in September, was left unmarked to head home Lainer's cross
 The ground fell silent as the visitors celebrated in the corner, though it appeared that Andre Ramalho was hit by a missile thrown from the home support
Dabbur should have scored again with a free header from six yards out when Celtic failed to deal with a corner, but somehow Gordon turned it over the bar
 The goalkeeper then made a calamitous error - as he collected a loose ball and tried to throw it to Kieran Tierney, Gulbrandsen got a toe to it, and stroked it into the empty net
 Celtic looked sunk, and now required a favour to qualify
Ajer had a chance to set up a frantic finish with seven minutes left, but he somehow prodded over from under the crossbar
 Bizarrely, Celtic Park then began to reverberate to noise as news filtered through that Rosenborg had equalised in Germany against RB Leipzig - a result that guaranteed Celtic would go through
Ntcham forced Alexander Walke into his first serious save of the night from a 25-yard free-kick, but as the match entered the second of seven extra minutes, the crowd erupted with joy at the news it had finished all square in Germany
Moments later Celtic were awarded a penalty after Rogic tumbled in the area
 Ntcham hit a weak shot that Walke parried, but then tucked home the rebound
 Moments later it was all over - Celtic were through to Monday's draw, but not perhaps in the way they would have wished
Salzburg remain one of the favourites to progress all the way in this year's competition and this was another demonstration of the unity that runs through their side, typified by their captain Andreas Ulmer
The veteran full-back produced a tireless display for the visitors down the left flank, providing a constant outlet forMarco Rose's side
 His set-pieces caused numerous problems for the Celtic defence
Celtic are back in Scottish Premiership action on Sunday when they travel to face Hibernian, live on Sky Sports Football (kick-off: 12
30pm)
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