Celtic 0-1 Anderlecht

Celtic qualified for the Europa League knockout stages despite losing to Anderlecht in Champions League Group B.

However, Celtic finished third, level on three points with Anderlecht but with a better head-to-head record after a 3-0 win in Brussels.

James Forrest shot wide and Olivier Ntcham had an effort saved for Celtic, who were outplayed for periods.

• Celtic beaten by better team - Rodgers

Anderlecht had to match Celtic's September win in Brussels to snatch third place and the spot in the Europa League last 32.

They downplayed their chances in the lead up to the game, but there was a touch of the bluff about their language and a touch of menace about the way they began the game.

The visitors were slick, whereas Celtic were sloppy. The Belgian side had an urgency that suggested they didn't believe they were on a hopeless mission.

Inside two minutes they created a great opportunity, Henry Onyekuru squaring for Sven Kums, whose drilled shot was beaten away by Craig Gordon.

A dozen minutes later they had another moment that sent concern around Celtic Park. Adrien Trebel's scissors kick was handily dealt with by Gordon, but it was the ease with which Anderlecht were finding space that was troubling for Celtic.

The visitors did not have the players to carry a sufficiently serious threat of overturning the odds, but Celtic made their own lives difficult with their wastefulness in possession.

They gave the ball away constantly and grew jumpy. Without a home win in the group stages of the Champions League (and the Europa League) in 10 games stretching back more than three years, this was not what the home support had in mind for the night.

Brendan Rodgers changed it at the break, bringing in Olivier Ntcham and Tom Rogic for Stuart Armstrong and Scott Sinclair. The irony was that at a time when they started finding some confidence, accuracy and threat - Ntcham and Forrest had decent attempts - they fell behind.

It was soft, too. Dennis Appiah flighted a cross into the box where Pieter Gerkens and Simunovic competed for it. Gerkens got his head to it first, the ball then taking a deflection off Simunovic's shoulder and into the far corner of Gordon's net. An unfortunate goal, but such a basic one to concede.

Celtic had a couple of half-chances to take any heat out of the situation but couldn't put them away. Sofiane Hanni could have put the wind up Celtic in a major way, but Gordon made the save.

Hein Vanhaezebrouck, the Anderlecht manager, brought striker Lukasz Teodorczyk on and went with three up front in pursuit of the two goals he needed. It didn't work. Anderlecht never again looked like putting the frighteners on Rodgers' team.

They'd already done their work in Brussels, and it was just as well, because this was poor stuff from Celtic. It was a fifth loss from six Champions League games and a failed opportunity to improve Rodgers' record in the group stage, which stands at one win, three draws and eight losses.

What they do have, of course, is a place in the Europa League. That was the goal at the outset and they have achieved it.

Celtic will be unseeded in Monday's draw, but they have European football after Christmas. On a dispiriting night, that bottom line offered comfort.

Analysis

Former Celtic striker Scott McDonald on BBC Radio Scotland

They'll be no one more disappointed than Brendan Rodgers, he'll be kicking himself. He'll be hugely disappointed about the performance.

Tonight was a night to really put a stamp on getting into the Europa League and being positive about progressing within Europe. We still have to be positive, we're there, and there's a lot of football to be played between now and then.

There's a transfer window so we never know what is going to happen in that, but on tonight's performance, it's going to have to be a lot, lot better, if they want to progress in Europe.