BODO/GLIMT, a club little known anywhere outside their native Norway before this season got underway, continued their magical European adventure at Parkhead tonight by claiming another famous scalp. 

Celtic will have to conjure up something pretty extraordinary themselves at a venue where Roma were thrashed 6-1 back in October next Thursday night for their own involvement in continental competition to continue.

Ange Postecoglou’s players have produced some gutsy displays on the road in the Europa League this term and are, thanks to the away goals rule being abolish by UEFA this term, by no means out of the new Conference League.

But winning by a three goal margin on the artificial pitch in the 5,635-capacity Aspmyra Stadium and progressing to the last 16 of the competition – which Postecoglou had boldly declared his men were intent on winning this week – will require a vastly-improved showing. 

Kjetil Knutsen’s charges, who went ahead when Runa Espejord scored early on, forged further in front when Amahl Pellegrino pounced in the second-half and netted through Hugo Vetlesen with nine minutes of regulation time remaining, showed exactly why they have captured the attention of the football world this term.

They pressed their hosts relentlessly in every area of the pitch, were comfortable when they had the ball, attacked with pace and in numbers and were clinical in the final third. 

Celtic, who had been on a nine game winning streak and a 17 match unbeaten run, were bitterly disappointing in every area in the knockout round play-off match.

Liel Abada and Tom Rogic failed to provide the spark required going forward, lone striker Daizen Maeda received little decent service and Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt were caught flat-footed on more than one occasion.

Maeda gave his side hope of staging a late fightback when he got on the end of a Josip Juranovic cross and glanced a delightful header beyond Nikita Haikin. But just two minutes later Vetlesen struck a shot which deflected off Juranovic and arched over Joe Hart. It was that kind of night for Celtic.  

The joy of the 3-0 mauling of Rangers on the same pitch just a fortnight earlier was a distant memory when Latvian referee Andris Treimanis blew the final whistle at the end of the 90 minutes. 

Postecoglou left Reo Hatate on the bench and started with Matt O’Riley in midfield alongside Callum McGregor and Rogic. Up front, Maeda got the nod ahead of Giorgios Giakoumakis and led the line with Abada and Jota on either side of him.

Maeda did well to force Brice Wembangomo to clear the ball off his goalline and out for a corner in the second minute. That, though, proved to be a rare nervous moment for the away team during the opening 45 minutes.

The visitors had not played competitively in over two months and arrived in Glasgow from a warm-weather pre-season – the new Eliteserien is not due to get underway until April - training camp in La Manga in Spain.

This was also their first outing without Patrick Berg, Fredrik Andre Bjorkan and Erik Botheim, who all departed following their second consecutive title win back in December, and they were not expected to be at their very best.

Bodo showed they were undeterred by the crowd – the biggest they had played in front of in their entire 105 year history – before kick-off when their players substitutes, coaching staff joined together in a mass huddle in their technical area.

They attacked from the off. Knutsen fielded Ola Solbakken, Pellegrino and Espejord in a three man forward line and his positive approach paid off. Pelleginro forced a save from Hart early on gave a taste of what was to come.

Bodo sliced open their rivals backline in the sixth minute and Espejord slotted coolly beyond Hart and into the bottom left corner. The goal shocked the packed stadium – aside, that is, from the pocket of delirious travelling supporters in the corner - into a stunned silence.

To be fair to Celtic, they did not panic after the setback. They tried to build play patiently by passing out from the back and they did create opportunities as a result of their approach. That said, Haikin was never seriously troubled.

Jota tried his luck from distance after O’Riley had done well to win possession outside the Bodo area, Abada got an attempt that was lacking in power on target and Juranovic came close to connecting with an O’Riley cutback.

It took until the 51st minute for them test Haikin. McGregor picked out Maeda with a long ball upfield and his team mate spun and unleashed a shot which the Russian keeper did well to parry.

That passage of play provoked a reaction from Bodo. Solbakken charged unchallenged down the right flank before squaring to Vetleson inside him. His pass failed to find its intended target. However, he set up the second after making an almost identical break just two minutes later.

He jinked through Greg Taylor and O’Riley with ease and fed into the six yard box. Nobody could clear the danger and the ball broke to Pellegrino. He kept his cool and doubled Bodo’s tally.

Postecoglou put on Hatate for Rogic, Giakoumakis for Abada and James Forrest for O’Riley. The replacements made a definite difference. Jota managed to get two efforts on target. Haikin palmed the first over his crossbar and then punched the second clear.

He was unable to get a hand to Maeda’s stunning header, but Vetlesen hit Celtic with a sucker punch almost immediately to give Bodo/Glimt a great chance of progressing and round off a wretched night for Celtic.