It wasn’t anything like the night that Celtic fans were hoping for but in amongst a painful 90 minutes, before and after there were a few highlights.
Neymar was almost always going to be centre stage it was mainly a case of which Celtic player would end up with the same opinion as Scott Brown and Mikel Lustig.
Tony Ralston fitted the bill with the teenager showing admirable discipline not to fall in for the worst aspects of the Brazilian’s gamesmanship.
The watching eyes of the world were on Neymar, and by extension Ralston but he showed the discipline of a veteran not to fall into a trap.
While Ralston was sticking to his job Celtic Park was a little subdued as the fans looked on at an unusual performance.
Sure we knew that the visitors were of an altogether different quality to Scottish opponents but that still didn’t explain why Celtic players struggled to put together simple passes or complete the basics.
A year on from a hammering in Barcelona it was expected that progress had been made but there were few signs last night that the gulf we witnessed in the Nou Camp had narrowed.
It wasn’t to be one of our more memorable evenings but as ever there were a few moments of joy and excitement as the clock starts ticking towards a very significant match away to Anderlecht in two weeks time.