Daizen Maeda’s injury-time header earned Celtic a thrilling victory after being pushed to the limit by a Motherwell side who had looked value to extend their unbeaten Scottish Premiership start.
Maeda met substitute Michel-Ange Balikwisha’s cross from close range to send an anxious home crowd into delirious delight.
Jens Berthel-Askou’s side will rue the opportunity they missed having led as they sought a first win at Celtic Park in over a decade.
Brendan Rodgers was seeking solutions to Celtic’s scoring problems and, despite creating one or two strong openings, the hosts were handed their opener from the penalty spot when Callum McGregor’s strike from the edge of the area struck Regan Charles-Cook’s arm. Kelechi Iheanacho coolly netted.
Celtic were architects of Motherwell’s equaliser as Anthony Ralson needlessly gave the ball away. It was switched to Tawanda Maswanhise, whose perfect low cross was gleefully met by Apostolos Stamatelopoulos to level.
The home side looked ragged at that stage. It got worse as Motherwell secured a dream lead.
Marcelo Saracchi seemed to have averted danger inside his own box but had, in fact, caught Maswanhise and the penalty was awarded after VAR intervention..
Australian striker Stamatelopoulos slammed home his second to send the away support wild.
Celtic struggled to break through in response but were gifted an equaliser. The visitors tried to play out from a dangerous area, Ward played it straight to Nygren and he couldn’t miss.
As Celtic pushed on, the winner seemed beyond them. It arrived from last season’s prolific goalscorer to break Motherwell’s hearts and, perhaps, give a platform for the home side to kick on from.
More to follow.