IT is one of football’s most cherished narratives. The player – be it misfit or former hero - who returns to haunt his former club on a high profile occasion is the kind of formulaic plotline which could be plucked right out of the pages of Roy of the Rovers. In the form of Jo Inge Berget’s Champions League play-off double on Wednesday night, Parkhead just witnessed a case par excellence.

The 24-year-old Norwegian with the extravagant facial hair joins a lengthy list of returning anti-heroes which includes Frank Lampard, who popped up with an equaliser for Manchester City on his debut against his former club Chelsea last season, and Emanuel Adebayor, whose understated goal celebration was to sprint the length of the City of Manchester stadium turf and slide to his knees in front of the Arsenal fans who had been jeering him all day. How could we forget Denis Law’s understated goal for Manchester City against United in 1974, which nonetheless rubber stamped his former club’s relegation? Or Berget’s countryman Harald Brattbakk, both lionised and gently lampooned during his time at Parkhead, who popped up with two goals against them in the colours of Rosenborg in a November 2001 Champions League tie in Trondheim?

Kari Arnason, the Iceland international who marshalled the Malmo backline on Wednesday night, no easy task in the opening stages as wave after wave of Celtic attacks flooded against them, reckons Berget’s big moment was written in the stars. “I’m so happy for him,” said Arnason. “He is a terrific lad and a great footballer. I don’t know what happened at Celtic for him – maybe the British style didn’t suit him, but he suits us. It’s always written in the stars that you score when you come back and visit your old club especially when you never really got a chance at that team.”

While Berget thoroughly embraced his time in the spotlight, it is worth pointing out that the Parkhead side’s supporters who saw him score just two goals in eight outings for the club may yet be permitted the last laugh. While the 24-year-old’s second goal on the night, from a Tobias Sana corner with four and a half minutes of injury time played, was a blow to Celtic’s collective solar plexus, this tie is only half done. The Parkhead side still have a lead, and in spells on Wednesday night they were clearly the superior side.

Malmo clearly fancy their chances on their home turf of the Swedbank Stadion, a venue where they overcame FC Salzburg 3-0 in the previous round, but it will be Celtic’s task on the night to offer them as little encouragement as possible. A high octane, energetic start to the match is promised but defenders of the calibre of Virgil van Dijk should not appear as ill at ease as Malmo’s backline did in the opening stages on Wednesday night. Rather than being carved open from general play, Celtic were caught up field following a corner for the first goal then punished from an all-or-nothing set piece for the second. With two sitting midfielders employed, Craig Gordon denied that his side’s formation had been too gung ho. But six goals shipped in the club’s last three games is a sign that all is not running to plan in the defensive department.

Most maddening of all for Celtic is the feeling that this tie could already be all but done this morning, the estimated £16m booty at stake already being counted out by chief executive Peter Lawwell rather than hanging over the place like a shroud. Failure to reach the group stages wouldn’t exactly be back to square one for the entire Ronny Deila project, but it would be a huge blow to its credibility.

Time then for strong nerves, for a refusal to get spooked and move away from your core priniciples. While the defensive equation is made significantly more difficult given the injury to Mikael Lustig which could leave Celtic reliant on the untested Saidy Janko at right back, not to mention the return from suspension of Malmo skipper Markus Rosenberg and another talented first team player in the form of Enoch Adu, the Parkhead side are more than capable of scoring in Sweden, where the pace and energy of the likes of James Forrest, Stefan Johansen and Leigh Griffiths should be to the fore.

“After a game like that you are never happy,” said Arnason, “having conceded three preventable goals. We rode our luck for 20 minutes – they came at us like a house on fire. We kept making mistakes and losing the ball in our own half which you can’t do.

“We only need one goal if we keep a clean sheet and I fancy our chances at home,” he added. “We tend to be more composed when we are at home. We are a very young team and when 60,000 people are shouting their lungs out it is very easy to get intimidated. But to come back from 2-0 down at Parkhead shows great strength and character. I fancy we can do it because this team does not know when it’s beaten.”

The pressure in the crucible of the Swedbank Stadion will be intense all right, but this should hardly be classed as Mission Impossible for Celtic. “If to we want to go on and play in the group stages of the Champions League, then we need to be able to deal with that type of situation,” said Bitton.

For his part, a validated Berget insisted that his self confidence had never wavered, despite his unsuccessful loan spell at Parkhead. “I’ve always known I was a good player,” said Berget. “I had some good games at Celtic but more were not to standard. That ended how it ended. It is a new time for me now and I’ve done well this year.”

Fitness was a factor, but so was fate. “We are in the middle of our season so it is natural that we might be in a bit better shape than the Celtic players,” he added. “In the last minute of the game, I felt like we could out-run them. But I don’t think the last corner was about legs. That was about us wanting that goal. The ball bounced the right way and hit the net.”