Callum McGregor scored a late winner as Celtic defeated Zenit St Petersburg 1-0 in their Europa League round of 32 first-leg at Celtic Park.
It arrived with only twelve minutes remaining, substitute Charly Musonda allowing McGregor to crash high into the net and earn a narrow advantage going into the second-leg.
Kieran Tierney and Olivier Ntcham both saw early efforts for the hosts while McGregor also called goalkeeper Andrey Lunev into action.
But opposite number Dorus De Vries then saved well from Anton Zabolotny and Tierney cleared off the line as the visitors suddenly threatened.
McGregor next had another shot diverted away following decent work by Ntcham, but the scoreline remained unchanged up to the interval.
Eboue Kouassi later forced Lunev to block his fierce drive, although clear opportunities continued to prove restricted at both ends.
That was until Musonda delivered towards the far post, and McGregor smashed a glorious 78th minute winner back across goal and into the roof of the net.
Celtic: de Vries, Lustig, Ajer, Simunovic, Tierney, Brown, Ntcham, Forrest, McGregor,
Kouassi (Musonda 73), Dembele (Edouard 84)
subs (unused): Hendry, Sinclair, Rogic, Bain, Miller
Goals: McGregor (78)
Zenit St Petersburg: Lunev, Smolnikov, Mevlja, Mammana, Criscito, Erokhin, Paredes, Kuzyaev (Kranevitter 62), Rigoni (Driussi 62), Kokorin, Zabolotny
subs (unused): Lodygin, Terentjev, Poloz, Zhirkov, Ivanovic
Ref: D. Skomina
Att:
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