CELTIC couldn't quite get what would have been only their second Champions League away win in 30 attempts but they will settle for proving another point here at the home of the millionaires of Manchester. Particularly Patrick Roberts.
The fate of this 19-year-old England youth international remains uncertain when he returns to the Etihad this summer but he did his chances of a first-team future no harm at all with the fourth minute goal which ultimately earned the Parkhead side what was only their fourth positive away result in Europe's premier club competition.
He might even have earned another goal for his team, after being denied a fairly obvious penalty claim for a tug from Gael Clichy at the end of the first half.
Read more: Manchester City v Celtic: Celtic man-by-man ratings
Also revelling in the moment, on his first return to the North West of England, was Brendan Rodgers. Only a combination of some bad luck and some fine goalkeeping from Willy Caballero denied him victory here, but drawing twice against one of the most expensively assembled teams in history is no mean feat.
Pep Guardiola had sworn that this match didn't mean more to Celtic than it did to Manchester City but it was hard to avoid that conclusion from a glance at the respective line-ups.
The Spaniard named just two of the men who had combusted in spectacular fashion against title rivals Chelsea here on Saturday. Having said that, the two men in question were Leroy Sane, plucked from Schalke for a trifling £37m this summer, and Ilkay Gundogan, another summer signing - just the £20m this time - who is a World Cup winner and has a goal in a Champions League final on his resume.
Read more: Manchester City v Celtic: Celtic man-by-man ratings
Nigerian youngster Kelechi Iheanacho was preferred to bad boy Sergio Aguero while on the bench was a young man called Phil Foden. Aged only 16, he would have become the first player born in the 21st century to feature in a Man City squad. The big match for City was Saturday's meeting with Barclays Premier League champions Leicester City.
By contrast, Brendan Rodgers - disappearing into the middle distance domestically - could safely deploy all his big guns. While all positions in this group were already set - City are second and Celtic are out - there were still the small matter of £1.27m in cash up for grabs.
The former Liverpol manager - who in his past life as a youth coach had a couple of chances to join City - knew victory against Celtic's second string would consolidate the progress made during a European campaign which has already seen these two sides draw 3-3 in Glasgow.
It was also a chance for Celtic to stress chief executive Peter Lawwell's point about the club's potential should they ever be admitted into the Barclays Premier League.
Roberts' big chance came due to the injury-enforced absence of another former Man City man in the form of Scott Sinclair and he certainly took it.
This game was not yet four minutes old, and Tom Rogic had already stung Cabellero's palms once, when he profited from a Leroy Sane slip and slithered beyond Gael Clichy, half stumbling before correcting himself and placing a cute finish into Caballero's bottom corner.
While he worked out whether to celebrate or not, plumes of green smoke filled the night air and a number of away fans in the home area gave the game away.
Quick as a flash, Guardiola shifted to a three at the back, and within minutes City were level. Nolito found a crafty wee pocket of space, and his pass was perfect for Iheanacho.
The Nigerian showed excellent pace and strength before firing high, left-footed, past Craig Gordon. Perhaps, like David Narey against Brazil in 1982, Celtic had just made them angry and the rest of the match would be one-way traffic.
That things didn't turn out like that was testimony to another excellent technical and tactical display from the Scottish champions. Indeed had lady luck not deserted them at a couple of crucial moments things might have been even better.
Read more: Manchester City v Celtic: Celtic man-by-man ratings
Moussa Dembele, hailed as 'exceptional' by Brendan Rodgers and watched by scouts from most of the top clubs in Europe, a list headed by Arsenal, Liverpool and PSG, was causing City's defence headaches, but just perhaps all the attention was putting him off in front of goal.
While he was wrongly flagged for offside when he ran through onto a Stuart Armstrong pass, he really should have converted after the excellent James Forrest beat three men and played him in. Instead, he was overly cute with a dinked finish then blasted the rebound into the sidenetting.
Iheanacho tested Gordon with a backheel but Celtic finished the half strongly. Once again Roberts wriggled beyond Cliche and this time the Frenchman used his arms to impede him. While the Slovenian referee perhaps felt the on-loan City man could have kept going, he was clearly obstructed. The non-award of such penalties will perhaps only encourage him to throw himself to the ground in future.
One man who did crumple to the turf shortly after the break was Forrest, a blow to Celtic as he was vying with Tom Rogic for Celtic's best player to that point. On came Gary Mackay-Steven, his first ever appearance for Rodgers-era Celtic, and chances continued to come at both ends. Mikael Lustig got in down the right but could only fire wastefully wide on his left foot. Nolito had the ball in the net only for it to get chalked off for a borderline offside.
Read more: Manchester City v Celtic: Celtic man-by-man ratings
The atmosphere crackled, even if things boiled over a bit with some trouble among the City fans in the corner nearest to the Celtic support. Perhaps unwisely, lights went on all over this ground in the 67th minute to mark the 50th anniversary of the Lisbon Lions.
Griffiths might have got the winner when picked out by Mackay-Steven, then Mackay-Steven might have done likewise when the striker returned the favour. Sane went close with a free kick then the sliding Jozo Simunovic almost got called for a cruel late penalty for handball but their campaign ended with a draw. Celtic exit European football for the season but this might just go down as the night they arrived.
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