IT WAS the clash of the Celts in northern France tonight as Celtic travelled to Brittany to take on Rennes.
And the Hoops managed to take a point – and still await a win on the road in Europe.
Celtic recovered from a bizarre own goal to claim the Europa League point against Rennes in France.
Cha Du-Ri’s misplaced passback handed Rennes the lead on the half-hour, moments after Rennes goalkeeper Benoit Costil had denied Anthony Stokes.
But Joe Ledley’s header levelled the match on 70 minutes.
Charlie Mulgrew came close with a free-kick for the visitors and Youssouf Hadji’s acrobatic shot was brilliantly saved by Celtic’s Fraser Forster.
With Udinese beating Atletico Madrid in the evening’s other Group I fixture, Celtic and Rennes are two points behind the Spaniards and five behind the Italians.
“It would have been a real shame having played so well to lose a game with the goal we conceded,” Hoops manager Neil Lennon told ESPN.
“But credit to the players in the second half, we weathered a wee bit of a storm.
“Fraser Forster showed his character [with] tremendous saves, but we created some good chances and I felt on the balance of play we should have won the game.”
The SPL side fell behind in bizarre circumstances as a misunderstanding between Du-Ri and goalkeeper Forster saw the defender pass the ball back from 30-yards out and into his own net.
“Fraser got himself in no man’s land and you think the curse is going to strike again,” Lennon added.
“But I said to the players ‘look, go out there and keep playing, keep committed, keep concentrated’ and once we got a good delivery we scored from it which delights me.
“It’s a testament to the team after the weekend. They come and show the quality. I’m very, very proud of them tonight.”
Lennon also saved a praise goalscorer Ledley, who looped in a header in the second half to bring the scores level.
He said: “He’s a terrific player and no matter where you ask him to play he does a great job for the team.
“He’s gradually got better and better and he was marvellous tonight against really top class players.
“To get the goal was a bonus but his overall display was fantastic.”
Goalscorer Ledley added: “I thought I did okay at left-back. It’s not my strongest position but I’m happy to do it for the team and I’m just glad we put in a great team performance.
“We’ve got some great players here and it was a great performance by the boys.”
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