They may hail from the City of Love but there’s not a lot of romance between Celtic fans and Paris Saint-Germain.
But in an ironic twist, Hoops supporters may now feel like extending a hand of friendship towards the Qatari-owned super club. Or maybe not.
On Wednesday night Neymar and his expensively-assembled team-mates mounted a dramatic, late comeback that left Atalanta crushed.
One-nil up through Mario Pasalic, the Serie A side were stunned when first Marquinhos equalised in the 90th-minute then Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting slid in the winner deep into injury time.
It earned the Parisians a place in the Champions League semi-finals and gave Celtic a lift, too.
The result means Atalanta cannot be ranked above the Scottish champions in this season’s UEFA competition, and therefore Neil Lennon’s side will be third seeds in the group stage of the world’s most prestigious club event, according to respected site Bert Kassies.
There remains a couple of stumbling blocks, of course. Firstly, Celtic have to navigate three one-legged rounds of qualifiers before the two-legged playoff.
And secondly, they will be pushed down to fourth seeds if Lyon win the competition still being played.
Celtic have regularly been in pot three when featuring in the group stage and allows them to face a side that on paper they should beat.
