Celtic close in on playoff spot despite misfiring in Zagreb draw

Received wisdom before kick-off at Stadion Maksimir was that this was the ideal time to face Dinamo Zagreb.

- Ewan Murray

Celtic proceeded to prove this campaign is not the one in which to play them in the Champions League.

While there will be a tinge of frustration from Brendan Rodgers that a draw was all that could be collected from a fixture in which they were the superior team, capitulation in Dortmund early in this campaign continues to look irregular.

Celtic are again a serious team at elite level in Europe; while progression to the knockout stage could not be sealed in Zagreb, there should be every confidence of that box being ticked when Young Boys visit Glasgow in the new year. One defeat from six until now is a fine Celtic return.

Dinamo never looked particularly capable of altering that record.

The first half was a scrappy, bitty affair. Celtic would have been disappointed not to make the most of umpteen promising positions. Indeed, the Dinamo goalkeeper Danijel Zagorac was barely worked. He watched a Paulo Bernardo free-kick from 20 yards float over his crossbar and reacted sharply to block a Nicolas Kuhn cutback, intended for Kyogo Furuhashi. This was about the sum of Celtic's menace.