James Forrest’s second-half goal gave Celtic a 1-0 aggregate win over Rosenborg and took Brendan Rodgers’ side into the Champions League play-offs, the final round before the lucrative group stage.
The Scotland international was thwarted in the first half but Forrest hit a shot high past André Hansen in the 69th minute to take the visitors into the play-off draw with a 1-0 win on the night and overall.
The draw for the final play-off round will take place on Friday, with a number of high quality teams also entering the hat. Sevilla, Napoli, Liverpool, Hoffenheim and Sporting Lisbon – who qualified on the basis of their respective domestic league finishes last season – are joined by Qarabag, Apoel Nicosia, Slavia Prague, CSKA Moscow, Istanbul Basaksehir, FC Copenhagen, Steaua Bucharest, Young Boys, Maribor, Hapoel Beer Sheva, Nice, HNK Rijeka, Astana and Olympiakos.
Winning the Scottish Premiership means Celtic are seeded, so they will avoid Olympiakos, FC Copenhagen, Apoel Nicosia and Maribor but could face Astana, Qarabag, Rijeka, Hapoel Beer Sheva or Slavia Prague.
“It was a big performance,” said Rodgers. “Take away the win, what was important for me was the maturity. This time last year I was going into these games with a hope that we could go through, to try to find a way.
“To come out here and play to that level with that composure – everyone was talking about the pressure of the game so to play that way was sensational, really. I am really delighted with the players, how they managed the game, how they kept their nerve and courage to play. Yes, it was a great victory for us.”
Following the goalless draw at Parkhead last week Celtic were again without their only two recognised strikers Moussa Dembélé and Leigh Griffiths in their starting line-up, so the winger Forrest was moved into the middle.
The midfielders Callum McGregor and Jonny Hayes also came into the side with Olivier Ntcham and Tom Rogic dropping to the bench alongside Griffiths, who missed the first leg due to suspension.
Rosenborg, with the former Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner leading the line, found Celtic as keen to press as they had done in Glasgow which gave encouragement to the 400 or so travelling fans in the near 21,000 crowd.
Griffiths came on for Hayes in the 57th minute, seconds after Kieran Tierney had curled a 20-yard shot with his right foot just past the far post, before the Rosenborg captain, Mike Jensen, hit the side-netting with a shot from the edge of the box.
There was growing anxiety as the minutes ticked past before Forrest took a Scott Sinclair pass in his stride and from 14 yards fired an angled drive in off the crossbar.
Rosenborg threw everything forward but in the 82nd minute Forrest missed a great chance on the counter-attack when through one-on-one with Hansen, while Griffiths, too, had an effort blocked by the 27-year-old keeper.
The miss was academic as Celtic deservedly moved to within 180 minutes of Champions League group-stage football under Rodgers for the second successive season.
