It was a disappointing night in Austria for Celtic, a point conceded by manager Brendan Rodgers, after a second-half turnaround saw Red Bull Salzburg come out 3-1 winners on the night.
Celtic had gone into the half-time break a goal up after Odsonne Edouard scored and he had another disallowed, correctly, for offside.
However, Salzburg had already showed ominous signs of getting back into the game and absolutely dominated in the second-half.
Talking after the game, as quoted by the Scottish Sun, Rodgers conceded that the best side had won, but singled out deadline day signing Youssouf Mulumbu for praise.
“The best team won. I thought first-half we started well and by the end of the half we’d frustrated Salzburg.
“By the end it was very disappointing.
“When Scott doesn’t play then of course it always takes away from the team.
“But give credit to Mulumbu, I thought he did very well. He came in and worked hard. I thought he was excellent.
“Scott’s obviously a big player, very important. But I thought Youssuf came in and did very well.”
OPINION
This was always going to be a really tough test for Celtic and losing Scott Brown was a really big blow. The influential Celtic skipper is also a doubt for this weekend. However, Mulumbu stepped up and showed that at 31 he can still put in a performance worth of the European stage. He was brilliant in the first-half and Rodgers rightly acknowledged his contribution after the game. However, after going in 1-0 up the end result was very disappointing. Getting James Forrest sent off in the 72nd minute and giving away a penalty was the final nail in the coffin and there was no way that Celtic were going to come back after that. It gets no easier next time out either as Rodgers’ men travel to Germany to play Red Bull Leipzig. Winning the home fixtures is important but Celtic will need to get something on their travels to progress.