Celtic played 'best football' of this season's Champions League in their draw with Atletico Madrid – James Horncastle

Celtic secured their first point of this season’s Champions League in an exhilarating 2-2 draw against Atletico Madrid at Parkhead.

The Scottish Premiership champions have received much praise for their performance, which manager Brendan Rodgers said should give them the belief that progressing from the group stages can be a real possibility for them.

However, at the halfway stage, they remain bottom of Group E, three points behind-third placed Lazio, four behind Atletico in second and five behind leaders Feyenoord.

It means they must produce some big results in their final three matches, but on the evidence of this display, they have the components within their squad to do it.

Reflecting on the draw with Atletico, TNT Sports pundit James Horncastle said: “They had to get something out of this game, and I think they've played some of the best football that I’ve seen in the competition so far this season.

“There aren’t many teams that can play that one-touch, interchange football that Celtic have.

“I think some of it is the muscle memory they got from playing under [Ange] Postecoglou, obviously, some of it is Brendan [Rodgers] as well,” he said.

Celtic made the perfect start to the match, with Kyogo Furuhashi setting the tone with a goal after just four minutes.

Horncastle was impressed by the way they split open the Atletico defence to take the lead so early and how one duo in particular made Celtic tick.

“You go back to the goal that Matthew O'Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi scored for the opener against Lazio, this one tonight was even better than that.

“I mean that was just magnificent in terms of understanding, the telepathy between Matt O'Riley and Furuhashi. It’s two one-two’s that led up to that. There’s very little you can do at that pace if you’re the opposing side,” he said.

However, their good work was undone when Atletico won a penalty after Greg Taylor’s positioning put him on the wrong side of Nahuel Molina, who he caught with a clumsy challenge.

Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart - who said Atletico used "all the tricks" to avoid defeat - saved Antoine Griezmann’s effort, only for the French forward to tuck home the rebound.

Having dominated the early stages, Horncastle said Celtic should be really frustrated with the way they let their opponents back into the match.

“This was the disappointing moment. It’s moments like this which have let Celtic down.

“You go back to the game against Feyenoord, where they gave away a penalty. Joe Hart saved that, then they had two sendings off.

“They gave away another penalty, Greizmann gets the luck and Celtic don’t, and that’s been the story for Celtic. Because certainly, the performances merit more than the one point they’ve got,” he said.

Luis Palma made it 2-1 to the home side before half time, only for Alvaro Morata’s second-half header to level things once more.

Atletico had Rodrigo De Paul sent off for a second yellow card, with just under 10 minutes of normal time remaining, but Celtic could not capitalise and were made to settle for the draw.

Speaking after the match, manager Brendan Rodgers said: “That was a really good performance, but we just couldn't get the win.

"I don't think you can say they'll fly back to Spain not knowing they've had a tough game.

"Our reaction in the game was superb, having the courage and the bravery to play. We showed we can compete with a top level team. We can create opportunities. We can play the game the way we want to play,” he said.

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