Celtic rounded off their pre-season preparations with a 2-2 draw against Ruben Amorim's AC Milan on Saturday afternoon.
The Italian giants, who finished fifth in last season's Serie A, travelled to Glasgow's East End for their first friendly of the new campaign.
Camilo Duran opened the scoring inside 12 minutes, with James Forrest doubling Celtic's advantage shortly before the half-hour mark.
Milan responded by halving the deficit at the start of the second half as Francesco Camarda emphatically converted from the spot having been brought down by Cameron Carter-Vickers inside the penalty area.
The substitute striker levelled proceedings moments later, nodding home from Samuel Chukwueze's trivela cross.
To win the match, Celtic had their fair share of opportunities. Young winger Thomas Hatton, introduced with 15 minutes remaining, flashed just off target with an audacious long-range effort after some terrific individual work.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain then went close, but the sides ultimately had to settle for a draw.
Here are the key talking points from Celtic Park...
Duran the man... again
Martin O'Neill must be finding it hard not to get overly excited about Duran. The Colombian has looked as sharp as a tack in his first few Celtic appearances, scoring three goals in as many pre-season friendlies.
He followed up strikes against Sporting CP and Middlesbrough with yet another here, capitalising on Strahinja Pavlovic's poor pass across the face of his own goal to tap home from close range.
Just 15 minutes later, Duran was central to Celtic's second of the afternoon. He once more channelled his inner Daizen Maeda to take advantage of yet another poor Milan ball and tee up Forrest, who did the rest.
Celtic are set to sign striker Kasper Hogh from Bodo/Glimt for more than £11 million. But with Duran's current vein of form, the Dane will struggle to force his way into the side – if Duran continues to play through the middle.
He operated on the right flank for his former club Portimonense and could feasibly shift there to make way for his fellow new signings.
It's an ideal dilemma for O'Neill to have.
How close was this XI to Flag Day?
Celtic begin their title defence against Dundee on Monday week, but how close was their XI here to the one that will start the competitive season?
From last weekend's 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough, O'Neill made three changes against Milan.
Kieran Tierney and Sebastian Tounekti both returned to the XI after their World Cup exploits as Arne Engels replaced Oxlade-Chamberlain in midfield.
Liam Scales, who dropped out here, is suspended for the first two games of the new Scottish Premiership season after picking up 12 yellow cards last term.
So, compared to the team against Milan, the only feasible change could come at the top end of the park, with imminent arrival Hogh potentially earning a Flag Day debut.
Benjamin Nygren and Alistair Johnston, who both reached the latter stages of the World Cup, are due to return to training soon, but it feels unlikely they will start against Dundee. Similarly, Yang Hyun-jun has yet to feature since representing South Korea in the United States.
Crowd watch
COVID-aside, for a men's first team match, this writer had never seen Celtic Park as empty as it was against Middlesbrough last weekend.
The English Championship side brought around 5,000 fans north of the border, with the entire upper tier of Celtic Park shut, and the Jock Stein stand completely vacant.
Celtic charged adults £20 for this fixture and the uptake was noticeably greater than last weekend. Driving up to the ground, the streets were busier than last Saturday and, with the pre-match news that Hogh was set to sign, the mood in the stands was discernibly positive compared to the Middlesbrough game.
Unlike last week, fans populated the Jock Stein stand here. The top tier stayed empty, but there was a fair increase in the number of home supporters present this time around.
The Lisbon Lions stand, which played host to 5,000 Middlesbrough fans last week, was bare, with a few hundred Milan fans in attendance.
This still felt like any other friendly, though, as Celtic's pre-season preparations concluded. Glasgow's East End will be far livelier when Dundee come to town in eight days.
AC Milan stars on show
Amorim made sweeping changes at the break, so Milan's first-half XI looked entirely different to their second-half XI. Six-times-capped England central defender Fikayo Tomori started the opening 45 alongside captain for the day Matteo Gabbia.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek, formerly of Chelsea, Crystal Palace, and Fulham, partnered Italy's Samuele Ricci in midfield, who joined Milan for just shy of £20m from Torino last summer.
Milan set up in a typically Amorim 3-4-3 system. They sought to control possession throughout the match, but Celtic limited their visitors to few early chances.
Indeed, by the break, despite having 57 per cent of the ball, Milan had registered just one attempt on goal.
But they came out an entirely different side in the second half. The visitors, revitalised by a raft of alterations, were level by the 52nd-minute thanks to 18-year-old Camarda's brace.
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How ready are Celtic for the new season?
"In terms of the performance, I’m not too worried. If this was AC Milan in a few weeks, then you can get concerned," O'Neill said after Celtic's 4-1 defeat to Sporting CP in the Algarve 11 days ago.
The team were lethargic in the searing Portuguese heat that evening. Sporting were too much to handle and carved open their opponents like a hot knife through butter.
Here, though, Celtic were much improved, at least in the first half. Granted, it was Milan's maiden friendly, but O'Neill's side looked reinvigorated compared to recent outings.
They picked their moments to press and did so effectively, while also attempting to play through Milan on occasion.
They had a four-v-three after smartly overcoming Milan's press just before the hour mark, only for Tounekti to make the wrong decision and try to cut inside on his man.
Colby Donovan had his best pre-season outing at right- and then left-back, and Celtic goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo was more than confident in possession under pressure.
Duran was even encouraged to drop deep at times and take the ball on the half-turn, with Celtic's second-half subs – Hatton, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Reo Hatate, Callum Osmand, and Sean McArdle – also impressing.
With competitive action starting in just over a week, Celtic seem to be rising at the perfect juncture.
This team still has a long way to go before it hits its peak, and there are still vast squad improvements required beyond Hogh, but there was a lot to be encouraged by here.
