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Celtic let slip a two-goal lead in the interval to tie Lille in their thrilling Europa League encounter at Stade Pierre Mauroy.
Neil Lennon’s team was in the spotlight after losing to Rangers and AC Milan in their opener in Group H before drawing 3-3 with Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Sunday, but they managed a two-goal lead to through attacker Mohamed Elyounossi, who scored twice in a four-minute spell in the first half.
Hoop keeper Scott Bain, preferred to Vasilis Barkas, saved a Jonathan David penalty five minutes before half-time and it looked like it was going to be Celtic’s night, but Lille dominated in the second half.
Defender Zeki Celik scored a goal in the 67th minute and Jonathan Ikone equalized in the 75th minute, with Celtic hoping for a valuable point, though they will feel it should have been more.
Lennon made a trade with Captain Scott Brown replacing Tom Rogic, who fell to the bench, accompanied by Odsonne Edouard and Nir Bitton, who had recovered after missing three games following positive tests for Covid-19.
Bain kept his position in goal with Greek goalkeeper Barkas among the substitutes after recovering from a back injury.
Lille coach Christophe Galtier reorganized his squad and had Turkish forward Burak Yilmaz and Portuguese midfielder Renato Sanches among those on the bench.
Turkish forward Yusuf Yazici, who scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Sparta Prague in the first group match, led the line with Canadian forward David.
There was little indication of the drama to follow, as Lille dominated possession in the early stages, with Bain making his first real save in the 13th minute from a corner kick when he hit a shot from Boubakary Soumare, before saving Yazici’s left foot. . kick from 25 yards two minutes later.
Celtic grew in confidence.
In the 19th minute, Albian Ajeti had the ball into Lille’s net but was out of play and then shot an Elyounoussi cut over the bar from eight meters.
The Parkhead team’s first goal in the 28th minute came after Lille winger Zeki Celik lost possession, and when Ajeti threw the ball at Elyounoussi, he sped towards the goal and deflected his shot past defenseless goalkeeper Mike Maignan .
Lille struggled to cope the other way around.
Four minutes later, Ajeti and Jeremie Frimpong combined and when the Aro side crossed into the area, Elyounoussi swept the ball into the corner from 16 meters.
Lille had a chance to cut the deficit when referee Aleksandar Stavrev signaled the spot after a tackle by defender Shane Duffy on David, but Bain blocked the shot unconvincingly.
Moments later, Bain couldn’t pick up an innocuous cross and defender Sven Botman slashed the fumble bar and Celtic breathed again.
The second half was hard work for Lennon’s side.
Bitton replaced the injured Kristoffer Ajer in the 51st minute and the home team called Yilmaz and Renato Sanches, with Edouard in place of Ajeti.
Without Ajer, Celtic staggered and conceded a Yazici corner kick from the left by Adama Soumaoro, with Celik unmarked pushing the ball into the back post.
Celtic looked tired and as Celik returned the ball through the penalty area, Ikone pounced on the loose ball with his deflected shot that ended up behind Bain, but Lille failed to complete the comeback with a winner.
In fact, Celtic could have snatched it near the end when Frimpong cut a drive just above the bar.
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