Arsenal anguish, Helsingborgs highs and Maribor misery: What is Celtic’s record like in the Champions League play-offs?

Brendan Rodgers’ arrival and impact has provided belief that the Bhoys can once again grace the most prestigious – not to mention lucrative – stage in club football.

Ronny Deila came under fire for his failure to take his side over the final hurdle and as a result many will reflect on his era as a disappointment, despite winning two league titles and a League Cup during his two years in charge. The Champions League is what can make and break a Celtic manager.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers: European football 'deserves' to have Celtic back

But the Norwegian wasn’t the first boss to fall at the play-off stage since it was introduced in the 2009/10 season. The Bhoys have only successfully negotiated a path into the group stages twice since then, even failing to get as far as the play-off in 2010/11 after a 4-2 aggregate defeat to Braga in the third qualifying round.

So how is their overall record in the play-off since its inception?

2009/10: Celtic 1-5 Arsenal

UEFA introduced a new qualifying system, with a champions and non-champions path, that proved to be unfortunate for Tony Mowbray’s side as they were drawn against Arsene Wenger’s star-studded Gunners team.

Celtic were relying on a strong start at home in the first leg, but instead had a nightmare as a Cesc Fabregas free-kick and Gary Caldwell own goal gave the English club a commanding lead ahead of the return fixture in London.

A week later, Eduardo slotted a contentiously-awarded penalty midway through the first half before Emmanuel Eboue and Andrey Arshavin finished off the job. Massimo Donati’s spectacular volley late on was scant consolation for Mowbray, who wouldn’t last much longer in the Parkhead hotseat.

2012/13: Helsingborgs 0-4 Celtic

Neil Lennon led Celtic back into the group stages for the first time in four years after back-to-back 2-0 home and away wins against Sweden's Helsingborgs. The Hoops had already come through a third qualifying round tie against Finland’s HJK with a 4-1 aggregate victory, but bettered that margin against another Scandinavian opponent.

Goals from Kris Commons and Georgios Samaras helped the Bhoys bring a commanding lead back to Celtic Park for the second leg, where they comfortably wrapped up the tie and avoided any scares thanks to strikes from Gary Hooper and Victor Wanyama.

It was an auspicious qualifying campaign for Lennon’s side, as they went on to shock Barcelona on a famous night at Parkhead when Tony Watt sealed a 2-1 win against the Catalan giants. That result helped the club qualify for the last 16 ahead of Benfica and Spartak Moscow, before their eventual exit to Juventus.

2013/14: Shakhter Karagandy 2-3 Celtic

Celtic staged a dramatic fightback to survive what looked set to become one of the club’s most humiliating European results after a 2-0 first leg defeat in Kazakhstan. Lennon’s side flew home with their tails between their legs after failing to score an away goal and giving themselves an uphill struggle to qualify for the competition proper.

It was a different story at Celtic Park a week later as Commons and Samaras, who were also decisive a year earlier in Sweden, struck on either side of the half-time whistle to level the tie on aggregate. Both sides struck the crossbar as the Bhoys played with fire on occasions, before a stoppage-time winner from James Forrest sparked delirium inside Parkhead.

Lennon called it ‘the greatest thing I’ve ever done in football’ after the game as Karagandy’s hopes of becoming the first Kazakh team to reach the group phase were dashed.

2014/15: Maribor 2-1 Celtic

Celtic failed to take advantage of the fortuitous circumstances that saw them reach the play-off round in the first place. Ronny Deila’s tenure got off to a bad start as they received a 4-1 hammering against Legia Warsaw in Poland before a 2-0 defeat at Parkhead ensured an early exit in the third qualifying round.

But the result was then changed by UEFA after it emerged that Legia had fielded an ineligible player, meaning the Scottish champions were awarded a 3-0 home win and therefore edged into the play-off round in unorthodox fashion.

Deila was unable to capitalise on the stroke of luck. Despite picking up a promising 1-1 draw from the first leg in Slovenia, the Norwegian’s side were far from their best as they fell to a 1-0 defeat against Maribor at Parkhead to put an end to any hopes of another adventure at Europe’s top table.

The Slovenians have become something of a cursed draw for Scottish clubs, having beaten Hibs, Rangers and Celtic in European competition before dumping Aberdeen out of the Europa League qualifiers this year.

2015/16: Celtic 3-4 Malmo

After edging past Qarabag in the third qualifying round, Deila had the chance to make amends for the Maribor collapse a year earlier against Swedish champions Malmo.

A thrilling first-leg tie at Celtic Park left the Hoops with a narrow and precarious 3-2 lead, having conceded two away goals. Former Parkhead flop Jo Inge Berget struck a very late second for the Swedes after a double from Leigh Griffiths and Nir Bitton header had given the capacity crowd hope of a comfortable deficit.

However, it wasn’t to be as Malmo overturned the 3-2 scoreline in the second leg by recording a 2-0 home win thanks to a Markus Rosenberg header and Dedryck Boyata own goal. Celtic were estimated to have lost around £12 million by dropping into the Europa League once again, and the inability to reach the business end of the competition ultimately played a big part in Deila’s departure.