Celtic ensure Champions League play-off spot with win over Young Boys

Celtic qualified for the play-off phase of the Champions League after a late own goal earned a deserved 1-0 win over Young Boys.

Visiting captain Loris Benito knocked the ball into his own net in the 86th minute after substitute Adam Idah’s effort was saved by goalkeeper Marvin Keller following Reo Hatate’s excellent through ball.

Kyogo Furuhashi had three first-half goals disallowed and Arne Engels had a penalty saved as Celtic dominated the first hour against the Swiss side, who remain without a point at the foot of the table.

Celtic had to negotiate the closing stages without Daizen Maeda, who saw a yellow card upgraded to red following a VAR review after he kicked out at Mohamed Ali Camara.

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A draw would have left Celtic potentially needing a result at Villa Park next Wednesday but the late goal propelled them up to 18th place, level on 12 points with Juventus, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund above them.

A win in Birmingham next week would likely see Celtic claim one of the seeded places in the play-off round, if not a top-eight finish and direct entry to the last 16.

The late slice of luck was no less than Celtic deserved for a performance that was full of verve for 60 minutes. Midfielders Callum McGregor, Engels and Hatate dominated play and Celtic found spaces through the visiting back four right from the start.

Maeda and Nicolas Kuhn got round the outside with regularity but the deliveries were not quite falling for Furuhashi.

The Japan forward’s first offside goal came inside six minutes following a pass from Engels and Kuhn soon got in behind following McGregor’s pass but saw his shot deflected wide after skipping past three men.

Hatate and Furuhashi shot wide from half-chances before Kasper Schmeichel made his only first-half stop to beat away Joel Monteiro’s 25-yard strike.

Maeda claimed for a penalty after getting in front of Cheikh Niasse and Hatate had a shot pushed past the post after driving play from McGregor.

Furuhashi then had two goals chalked off inside two minutes just after the half-hour mark. The first was initially given after McGregor robbed Niasse and set up the centre-forward to wrongfoot the goalkeeper but Norwegian referee Rohit Saggi penalised the Celtic captain for a foul following a VAR review.

Furuhashi was then flagged offside again after converting Maeda’s cross from close range.

Engels’ weak penalty was saved in the 41st minute after Greg Taylor had his shirt pulled but the Belgian shook off the miss to create several chances from set-pieces before the break. Furuhashi and Hatate, twice, came close.

The pressure continued after the interval. Engels, Maeda and McGregor had shots saved and Auston Trusty headed against the bar before Celtic almost got hit by a sucker punch only for Schmeichel to pull off a brilliant double stop from Darian Males.

Celtic’s energy levels started to dip and Brendan Rodgers made some changes in a bid to regain the impetus, Alex Valle and Paulo Bernardo coming on midway through the half before Idah replaced Furuhashi.

There was no immediate impact and visitors threatened from some set-pieces but Idah’s run in behind led to the goal and Schmeichel saved from Sandro Lauper in the final second of stoppage-time.