On matchday 5 of the UEFA Champions League, Club Brugge traveled to Glasgow to take on Celtic. Club got off to an excellent start and took the lead midway through the first half after an owngoal by Carter-Vickers. On the hour, the home team leveled after a clever goal by Maeda, which was also the final score.
Blauw-Zwart were brimming with confidence following last weekend's superb 7-0 home win over STVV. Coach Hayen nevertheless made three changes to his starting line-up. Just like in the previous European matches, Ordóñez teamed up with Mechele in the heart of the defence thus forcing Spileers on the bench. Skov Olsen played instead of Talbi, while Jutglà was picked over Vermant to play as centre-forward. The most striking name at Celtic was Arne Engels, as the young midfielder has a past with Club NXT.
It was fairly quickly apparent that Club were not at all impressed by the circumstances, as Blauw-Zwart enjoyed most of the possession in the opening minutes. Four minutes in, this resulted in a first chance for Jutglà who's left-footed strike from outside the are whizzed just wide. After fifteen minutes of play, the hosts put their foot next to Club's and Maeda whipped in a good cross from the left which was flicked over the crossbar by Engels.
Club upped the pressure on Celtic when Skov Olsen cut inside from the right-hand side but saw his strike swirve wide of the far post. A few minutes later Blauw-Zwart took the lead nevertheless when Carter-Vickers was under pressure by Jutglà and De Cuyper and tried to play it back to his goalkeeper, but saw the ball roll in agonizingly slow as Schmeichel stood next to his goal.
The Hoops quickly recovered from this setback and gradually found their feet again. When Kühn found Hatate inside the penalty area, the Japanese midfielder tried to beat Mignolet with the slightest of touches with his head, but Mignolet collected the ball easily.
The second half started with the same 22 players and again it was Club who were quickest out of the traps. De Cuyper first won possession against his opponent and set up a counter-attack. After a long rush he got the ball back from Tzolis before darting into the penalty and releasing a good strike, but Schmeichel was equal to it.
It was a high-intensity match at this point with chances on both ends. Hatate tried his luck from just outside of the penalty area, but it flew just wide of Mignolet's goal. Just before the hour mark, Club carved out an other good opportunity when De Cuyper found Skov Olsen at the far post, but the Denmark international just couldn't keep it down. Unlucky, especially because the hosts immediately punished Club with the equalizer. Maeda received the ball on the left-hand side, went past Seys and curled the ball past Mignolet via the inside of the far post.
Midway through the second half the Club fans erupted once again when Jutglà put the ball past Schmeichel, but the joy was short-lived as the Catalan striker was in an offside position. With the match drawing to an end, it now could be anyone's game but it was mostly Celtic that pressed for a late winner. Bernardo swooped past Jashari at the edge of the box and drove a low effort just wide of the target.
There were four minutes of added time, but nothing really happened and so Blauw-Zwart has to be content with the one point and still harbouring ambitions to make it to the next round.
UEFA Champions League - Matchday 5
Attendance: 60,411 - Celtic Park
Referee: Georgi Kabakov (BUL)
Celtic FC: Kasper Schmeichel - Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Auston Trusty, Greg Taylor (59' Álex Valle) - Arne Engels (59' Paulo Bernardo), Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate - Nicolas Kühn (88' Hyun-jun Yang), Kyogo Furuhashi (76' Adam Idah), Daizen Maeda (76' James Forrest).
Bench: Viljamo Sinisalo, Liam Scales, Luis Palma, Adam Idah, Álex Valle, Hyun-jun Yang, Luke McCowan, Maik Nawrocki, Paulo Bernardo, James Forrest, Anthony Ralston, Stephen Welsh.
Coach: Brendan Rodgers.
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet - Joaquin Seys, Brandon Mechele, Joel Ordóñez, Maxim De Cuyper - Raphael Onyedika, Ardon Jashari, Hans Vanaken - Andreas Skov Olsen (77' Chemsdine Talbi), Ferran Jutglà (77' Romeo Vermant), Christos Tzolis (90+3' Nielsen).
Bench: Nordin Jackers, Zaid Romero, Hugo Vetlesen, Romeo Vermant, Michał Skóraś, Casper Nielsen, Jorne Spileers, Kyriani Sabbe, Chemsdine Talbi.
Coach: Nicky Hayen.
Yellow cards: Ordóñez, Mechele, Paulo Bernardo, Seys
Red cards: none
Goals: 26' Carter-Vickers (OG) (0-1), 60' Maeda (1-1)