As Celtic Park roared in the minutes before the players made their entrance to the fray, there was something gladiatorial about the view from the mouth of the tunnel; against the bedlam on the outside, there seemed only quiet contemplation inside from stony-faced performers. Their dramatic endurance test would go on to reap six goals, a point apiece and a thumbs up all round.

Who knows what went through Moussa Dembele’s head in those fraught minutes before he walked into a wall of noise, but in the 20-year-old striker Brendan Rodgers found his own Spartacus as Celtic produced a spirited and pulsating performance against Pep Guardiola's celebrated squad.

Even before they had stepped foot into the colossium, the stage seemed set for the kind of see-sawing, epic night that is steeped into the very fabric of Celtic and their European adventures.

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This was a night that did not bring a victory but there was something to celebrate in the manner in which Celtic took the game to Manchester City, something to applaud in the aggression and intrepid nature of their frequent forward forays. They remain a work in progress defensively but this was a night for enjoying the positives as Celtic found their belief again in the competition after the humiliation in the Nou Camp in their opening group game.

When Dembele scored their swiftest ever goal in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League after just two minutes and 23 seconds, the suggestive note of anticipation from a lusty crowd was answered.

It was the opening shout as 60,000 voices barracked and brayed, roared and then held their breath.

Both sides were graceful and swift in their galloping movements forward; both defences anxious and edgy.

It made for a compelling spectacle.

Three times Celtic had City on the floor; three times they let them wriggle back into it.

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There might have been a whiff of the offside about the opening goal which came from a cleverly worked free-kick as Scott Sinclair fed the rejuvenated James Forrest to supply Dembele, but there was no ambiguity about the manner in which Celtic laid out their stall.

It set the tone for a tantalising first-half, with the Parkhead side laying siege to City’s goal in the opening ten minutes.

However, for all that Celtic had a swagger and fire in them going forward the backline still holds old frailties. City’s first attack almost brought their first leveller but it proved to be a mere stay of execution as Fernandinho squared the game.

Again, though, Celtic got themselves together and went for the jugular. Their frequent incursions spooked City, with Cladio Bravo – he who dispatched Joe Hart due to his superiority with his footwork - at one point booting the ball anxiously out of play when under duress from the wispish Sinclair.

Celtic’s boldness in going forward was rewarded with a second and although there was luck in Raheem Sterling’s deflected goal from Kieran Tierney’s raking drive , there was something deserved about the sight of the youngster, who celebrated his 50th appearance for the club last night, wheeling away in delight.

Yet, as intelligent as Dembele was deadly with the ball at his feet for the most part, the youngster was given a harsh lesson in the vagaries of playing at the highest level. One sloppy pass left Scott Brown exposed with the visitors immediate in exacting the most ruthless punishment.

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David Silva intercepted a ball that had as much pace as if it were kicked through a mudbank, before conducting a 1-2 with Sergios Aguero that left Celtic’s defence gaping. Sterling showed all his predatory instincts to cut inside Tierney and finish coolly beyond the advancing Gordon.

Brown, fuming, seethed all the way back to the half-way line before jabbing his finger towards Dembele. By the time the whistle blew for the interval 17 minutes later, the Celtic skipper’s first reaction was to tell the young striker to get himself into the dressing room for a frank exchange of views.

Whatever was said in that particular sanctuary clearly had some effect. There was less than a minute of the second period played when Dembele hooked a quick spectacular overhead kick into the net to re-ignite Celtic Park.

It was a goal indicative of the character and energy that had marked the performance against a City team on a run of ten consecutive victories in an unblemished opening period to their season.

And, yet, again the Parkhead side struggled to keep the door closed. Aguero's strike was palmed away by Craig Gordon but Nolito was first to the rebound, slotting the ball into the net from close range.

Celtic tried to go again but having given so much throughout it seemed inevitable that they would tire. They did and by the time the changed were rung - Stuart Armstrong and Patrick Roberts arrived - before Leigh Griffiths came on for the spent but heroic Demeble.

The striker has netted 12 goals so far in his young Celtic career. The two he netted against City will take their own place in the folklore of the club.