The Maribor team started their struggle to list between 32 best teams of Europe at the Celtic Park cult stadium filled with 57,000 spectators with two forwards. Ante Šimundža chose to open the match with both Tavares and Jean Philippe Mendy, while Damjan Bohar remained on the bench. The young player from Prekmurje scored last week against Celtic, the match ended with the result 1:1. Another change was made in the midfield – instead of Amir Dervišević the more experienced Aleš Mertelj started the match.

Ibraimi, Tavares and Viler posed a threat in the first halftime
The purple survived the initial pressure by the home team (Marko Šuler almost scored an own goal in the 5th minute, kicking the ball away from the goal following a dangerous try by Anthonyja Stokesa) and pulled themselves together, creating three promising chances. A quarter of an hour after the beginning of the match Agim Ibraimi threatened the home goal from the distance of 25 metres, but the ball went slightly wide. Next he stole the ball, broke through and passed it to the left to Tavares positioned in the penalty area, who however didn't hit the ball well.

In the 29th minute Mitja Viler directed another strong shot from the left; he nicely passed the defender, but goalkeeper Craig Gordon saved his shot. Tavares, who was standing close to Gordon, couldn’t react well enough, so the home goalkeeper managed to grab the ball. Virgil van Dijk directed a front header towards the opposite goal, but missed it.

After McGregor's crossbar came the decisive goal
The second halftime opened with the supremacy of Celtic. Both Maribor defenders, Šuler and Aleksander Rajčević, were cautioned, and in the 56th minute Callum McGregor hit the crossbar, after Stokes had passed him the ball from the left side. Next the reserve Kris Commons tried his luck, but the ball sailed over the goal.

After 20 minutes the Maribor players started to threaten. Dare Vršič was close to scoring – after an imaginative pass by Mendy he found himself alone against Gordon, but blasted the shot from the left side of the box directly at the Celtic goalkeeper. But the door to paradise opened wide to Šimundža's players in the 75th minute. Tavares managed to kick the ball, deflected from the aggressive Mertelj, over Gordon and just below the crossbar, scoring for 0:1.

Van Dijk missed the opportunity to equalize
30-year old Brazilian with a Slovenian passport, the best shooter in the history of Maribor, had another opportunity to score, after the pass by Damjan Bohar who replaced Vršič, but he acted selfishly (he could have passed the ball back to Bohar) and sent the ball high above the goal. The result remained unchanged, and it remained the same also after the 80th minute, when Efe Ambrose had his opportunity (he missed the goal for a couple of centimetres), and also after the 93rd minute, when van Dijk failed to react adequately, and missed a great opportunity to turn the result into 1:1. It was Jasmin Handanović's turn to give his share: he saved his volley from the distance of 5 metres, and after almost five minutes of extra time came the time for celebration.

The group stage draw is scheduled for Thursday at 5.45 pm in Monte Carlo.
Ante Šimundža's statement: "It is a great success for all of us – for the club, for the fans, and for the city of Maribor and Slovenia. We have worked very hard for this step, and by this victory our wishes came true. It is a reward for the effort all of us from the club. And it is the best reward for our fans’ constant support. My congratulations to the team for their great performance! We have expected such a Celtic. We knew they would start carefully, and try to increase the rhythm during the match. Being a guest in Celtic Park is a very difficult experience for any team, as their fans create enormous pressure on the visiting team, therefore I was certain they would be forced to play to win. We have prepared thoroughly for the match. Teams who play a combinatorial game don't suit to Celtic. Vršič, Tavares, Ibraimi did their work well in defense, and were dangerous in attack. We fulfilled our plan, we kept the ball in our possession, and thus got what we wanted."