CELTIC PARK was under the spell of black magic last night.

It’s an occasion and venue which has been known to conjure up the extraordinary, leaving your jaw on the floor while your eyes stare on disbelief as reality is bent out of all proportion.

Memories of Barcelona being humbled and defeated back in 2012 spring to mind. Even recollections of last year’s mesmeric 3-3 draw with Manchester City would be fresh in the heads of the soggy legions pouring into Glasgow’s east end, dreaming of another Champions League evening of wizardry from their team.

Read more: Celtic 0 Paris-Saint Germain 5; Brendan Rodgers' side struggle against class of Parisians

Instead, it was the Parisians, bedecked head to toe in their cool and trendy jet black third kit, who provided the je ne sais quoi with a spell-binding display bordering on the outrageous at times.

With a front line worth around £400million, including the wonder of Neymar who made up half that figure on his own, Celtic were simple helpless to stop the most expensive team in world football puff out their chest, lift their chins and send out the boldest of statements that this year could finally be the year the Ligue 1 side are crowned Champions League, well, champions. If Barcelona angered the beast last term with that last 16 turnaround, Celtic suffered the brunt of their ire here in this 5-0 defeat.

Their play was a work of so much sorcery you expected to see Mickey Mouse hiding at the back of the Jock Stein Stand with his pointy hat and magic wand. At times it was painful to watch for the sell out crowd. At others you just had to stand back and admire it.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers: Celtic played like an UNDER-12 team against PSG - but we can still secure European football after Christmas

Over a thousand PSG supporters had made the short trip to Glasgow and were given the usual, drookit welcome. Perhaps through excitement to both get out of the Scottish deluge and to see their team spring into life, they were in fine voice and packing the right-hand corner of Parkhead a good hour before kick off. They must have known what was coming.

It’s worth pointing out at this stage that Celtic actually played well. Yes, there were mistakes that contributed to their downfall – Jozo Simunovic’s silly tug for the third goal for example – but you’d be hard pushed to find any team across the world that could have coped with Unai Emery’s globetrotters here.

There was a relaxed feel from those performing black arts. Pre-match, the PSG warm up had all the intensity of a primary school game of rounders. Among them, Neymar, for all his worth, chit chat and ego, cut a subtle figure. Wearing a grey training kit and beanie hat ensemble, the Brazilian who played here last year in Barcelona’s 2-0 victory laughed and joked with team-mates, high-fiving them and while swaggering about with not a care in the world. Those around him didn’t look that perturbed by the cauldron of passion slowly filling up around them.

Read more: Tony Ralston - I won't lose any sleep over Neymar handshake snub​

You’ll Never Walk Alone reverberated around Celtic Park with the hairs on your neck standing on end – even the three on my head leapt to attention – while the vocal Parisian tourists held their scarves aloft not wanting to be left out. Moments later 60,000 throats roared in unison, the Champions League banner fluttering with hearts, the sound of Zadok the Priest barely audible beneath the din.

From there on in, the magicians took over.

Pre-match Neymar said beforehand that he’d be turned off if the Celtic support booed him. Well, he must have been bored out his tree given the reception he got from the home crowd. Thankfully for the masses, his first real involvement came on three minutes when Champions League debutant upended him on the touchline. Welcome to Glasgow.

Read more: Celtic vs PSG: How the Celtic players rated in the Champions League​

The 25-year-old would soon silence the masses though, when a simply stunning pass from Adrien Rabiot - easily the man of the match with one of the best performances I've ever seen - inside Ralston on 20 minutes sent him and his rapid wee legs scampering in behind the Celtic defence to lift the ball beyond Craig Gordon. His influence didn’t stop there, as he masterminded PSG’s second 11 minutes before the break. It was his bursting run and pass out right to Marco Verratti which kick-started it all off, but he had the vision and stealthy movement to ghost into the middle of the box before arcing his run to the back post to head across for Kylian Mbappe to turn in.

The third soon followed and at half-time Celtic were staring down the barrel. To make matters worse, a pitch invader bolted on to the pitch moments later, ran half the length of the park and took a fresh air swipe at Mbappe. Even he couldn’t get near them.

Last year’s Champions League campaign got off to a 7-0 defeat in the Nou Camp – their worst ever result in Europe – and already there was an ominous feeling to the beginning of this one. A ripple of encouragement met Scott Brown as he led Celtic back out for the second half.

Read more: Celtic U19s 2 PSG U19s 3: Heroic effort, but young Celts fall short​

The introduction of Tom Rogic for Stuart Armstrong added some physicality to the Celtic midfield and Celtic, to their credit, tried their best to push back. Roberts danced and jinked his way along the right on his return to Celtic Park, while the biggest cheer of the night came when Ralston cemented Thiago Motta on the half way line for no apparent reason. The fire still flickered, if not barely.

Eventually two late strikes from a Mikael Lustig own goal and an Edinson Cavani close-range effort extinguished the hopes of a winning start for the first time in 10 attempts, bringing with it their heaviest home defeat in Europe and equalling their worst ever at Celtic Park.

Referee Daniele Orsato eventually put Celtic out of their misery as the goals stopped raining in but the showers continued to pour above from the heavens. The dream for one night was washed away with it, at least for now, but one is still very much alive for the magical men in black.