Seven years ago today; a special Celtic Park night that could have been even more memorable

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It’s exactly seven years since Celtic and Manchester City played out a thrilling 3-3 draw in the UEFA Champions League.

It was Brendan Rodgers‘ first campaign as Hoops boss. While his side would go an entire, unforgettable domestic season undefeated, the European stage was a different story.

As has been the case in most recent Champions League campaigns, wins were hard to come by. Like last season, we didn’t manage a single one in a daunting group which contained City, Barcelona and Borussia Mönchengladbach.

There were, however, still a few commendable results. Our away draws in Gladbach and Manchester were impressive. Yet, no night contained the drama of our home draw with the Premier League side.

While Pep Guardiola’s side were not at the overall level they find themselves now, City had started the season on fire. They arrived in Glasgow having won all six of their Premier League matches — a run which included a derby success away to Manchester United.

They journeyed north of the border in a confident mood and probably expected to beat us comfortably. They got an almighty shock.

There were less than three minutes on the clock when Moussa Dembele nodded in our opener to send Celtic Park into delirium. City soon equalised through Fernandinho, before Raheem Sterling turned a Kieran Tierney effort into his own net.

Celtic led again. City equalised again — Sterling putting the ball into the Celtic net this time.

After the break, Dembele struck again, announcing himself on the biggest of stages. City equalised one last time through Nolito with the game finishing all square. It was a special night that could have been even more memorable had we been able to hold on to just one of our leads.

The game is a reminder of what Celtic are capable of in Europe under Brendan Rodgers. For the battering that Rodgers has taken over his European record the first time around, we did have some pretty memorable nights at the top level.

That Celtic side matched the might of City despite not having a great deal of Champions League experience. This current side may actually have more given their exploits last season.

If it all clicks, we are capable of big things at Celtic Park. Let’s hope Lazio are on the receiving end of that next Wednesday.

In other news, “Rodgers went up in people’s estimations”; former Celtic hero loved weekend moment