Celtic squandered a golden opportunity to lay their hands on a precious first Champions League away victory after 10-man Anderlecht snatched the three Group A points in the Stade Constant Van Den Stock despite having captain Glen de Boeck sent-off.
After talk of an injury crisis at the Belgium club, last season's UEFA Cup finalists were expected to comfortably secure their second win of the campaign when the home side were reduced to 10 men after 26 minutes. But Celtic were stunned as Anderlecht fought back from that setback to move into second place in Group A thanks to a glorious strike from Man of the Match Dindane Aruna.
Anderlecht, second in Group A behind Bayern Munich, lost captain and central defender Glen De Boeck after 26 minutes following two bookings for fouls on strikers Henrik Larsson and John Hartson. But they continued to go forward at every opportunity and were rewarded with a second-half winner which delighted coach Hugo Broos.
"We stayed very well organised and had great counter-attacks after De Boeck was dismissed," he said. "We stayed with three at the back because I wanted to see how we could cope with that until half-time. After that, I decided not to change anything at all."
Martin O'Neill's men, who had begun brightly, thought they had capitalised in the 31st minute when Hartson netted with a header following a mix-up but his effort was correctly ruled out for offside. The home team, however, had their own chances, a shot from outside the box by defender Olivier Deschacht clearing Celtic goalkeeper Magnus Hedman only to come back off the bar.
Despite their numerical handicap, they continued to press after the break rather than retreat into their shell. Anderlecht's goal came on 72 minutes when Swede Christian Wilhelmsson broke down the right, outran the Celtic defence and picked out Aruna who scored with ease.
There were chances at either end at the death. With five minutes left, Hartson's shot was blocked by Daniel Zitka before Aruna ended a mazy run with a shot which Hedman turned around the corner.
A fuming O'Neill conceded afterwards: "If you can't put up a better performance playing 11 against 10, you've no chance of winning let alone getting one point. That was what I wanted from this game, one point."
The game had certain parallels with the Belgian side's match against Bayern last month. Then, it was Bayern who had been reduced to 10 men during the first half only for Anderlecht to miss out as they were held 1-1.
Tuesday's Champions League results:
Group AAnderlecht 1-0 CelticLyon 1-1 Bayern Munich
Group BLokomotiv Moscow 3-0 Inter MilanDynamo Kiev 2-1 Arsenal
Group CAEK Athens 0-1 PSV EindhovenDep la Coruna 1-0 Monaco
Group DGalatasaray 1-0 OlympiakosJuventus 4-2 Real Sociedad
Filed by Shane Murray
