Atalanta clearly identified defensive crossings as a weakness of their opponents and spent the first half bombarding the Celtic box with deliveries from wide on either flank.

Mario Pasalic was on the end of many of them and saw a header bounce back off the crossbar as Schmeichel was beaten.

The Danish goalkeeper had earlier made a superb stop to deny Ademola Lookman, and made a brilliant save to deny Mateo Retegui as the home side came on strong at the end of the first half.

Celtic defended well without having many chances to break out, although Nicolas Kuhn might have done better after getting past the Atalanta defense and breaking into the penalty area before being crowded out.

Scoreless at half-time was a solid foundation to build on for the visitors, and they almost had the dream start to the second period when Alex Valle’s deflected goal had to be converted into the Atalanta goal by Marco Carnesecchi.

The home team quickly increased the pressure and Marten de Roon’s goal from the edge of the penalty area resulted in a good save from Schmeichel.

Kyogo Furuhashi came off the bench and got in behind the Atalanta defense, only for his lobbed attempt to fall the wrong side of the crossbar.

Atalanta continued to dominate the ball, but Celtic’s tenacity in defense frustrated the life out of them. The visitors held on for a well-deserved point and the cheers of their traveling fans who applauded a job well done.