It was a night that had almost everything except a happy ending.
After lessons from PSG and Bayern Munich it was great to see that something had been picked up from those matches with Celtic able to impose themselves on their celebrated opponents.
Brendan Rodgers’ side looked more like the team that had beaten Aberdeen than the one that went down easily to defeat in the Allianz Arena two weeks earlier.
Quickly it became obvious that we weren’t about to witness a demonstration like PSG had handed out.
When Kieran Tierney crashed into a tackle to send James Forrest racing down the right the stage was set but after timing his run perfectly Stuart Armstrong stumbled as he shot wide with the goal at his mercy. It was to be the story of the night.
Celtic put in their best performance of the season but were unpicked by streetwise opponents and elementary mistakes.
In the end the emotions were mainly positive. There was no heroic success to indulge in but there was hope that the gap between the domestic game and the European elite could be bridged- and the real prospect of a sustained run in the Europa League to anticipate in the new year.