Well, it doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you get over the line.

Celtic had three goals disallowed and Arne Engels missed a penalty on a crazy night at Celtic Park, but just as it looked as though their big chance to seize a place in the playoff phase of the Champions League was going to pass them by, a wonderful defence splitter from Reo Hatate sent substitute Adam Idah in on goal.

As 60,000 fans held their breath, Young Boys keeper Marvin Keller got a foot to Idah’s effort, but succeeded only in sending the ball ricocheting off captain Loris Benito and into the net to send the east end of Glasgow into delirium.

It was a slice of luck the hosts will feel they deserved after fortune had deserted them in the first half of this contest. Celtic are nearly men, no more.

Daizen Maeda picked up a late red card, but that too will be forgotten amid a memorable evening for the Scottish champions.

Here are the talking points from Celtic Park…

History Bhoys end long wait for knockout Champions League football

It was Callum McGregor who said prior to this match that he was fed up of Celtic being a Champions League nearly team. But by god, they very nearly blew their big chance to shed that unwanted tag by failing to kill off the pointless Swiss – in the table, that is - when they had them on the ropes.

In the end though, none of that mattered.

Young Boys may not be the most storied opposition to rock up at Celtic Park in recent years, but rarely has the old place felt so electric on one of these famed Champions League nights.

The reason was obvious. Celtic stood on the brink of doing something that they hadn’t managed for close to 12 years; earning themselves that knockout tie in Europe’s elite competition. There was so much at stake, and the electricity pulsed around the concourses as a result.

When the final whistle blew, a cathartic roar rang out, and no one deserved the long ovation more at the end than Celtic’s captain, who was outstanding on the night, and who ended his own long wait for progression in this competition.

What did Celtic need to do to score?

Would it have been too much to ask of Celtic that they scored an early goal and subsequently swept the Swiss away to preserve the blood pressure levels – nay, the sanity – of their fans? Apparently so. Not that it was for the want of trying.

Three times Celtic - and Kyogo Furuhashi - had the ball in the net in the first half, only to be denied by two offsides and a foul. There was nothing wrong with the striker’s finishing, just his timing.

The officiating team got all three of those calls correct in fairness, though it took a VAR check to spot that McGregor had indeed clipped Cheikh Niasse in the midfield as he robbed him of possession and played Kyogo in on goal.

If anything, just as with Kyogo straying offside, he didn’t really need to do it, with Celtic just a little eager in the first half to get that opening goal.

They got the golden chance to settle those nerves though before the interval, and the onus was on Engels…

Celtic almost pay penalty as Engels’ perfect record goes

The perseverance of Greg Taylor paid off as the left back chased a lost cause and harried the ball from Darian Males on the Young Boys byline, provoking a reflex tug at his shoulder that was always going to result in the concession of a spot kick.

At long last, surely, this was the moment? Well…

Engels had scored six penalties from six in his Celtic career to date, albeit he got away with one in Dingwall after Ross County keeper Jordan Amissah had strayed from his line to save, and after a strong start from the young Belgian in this game, you fancied him strongly as he stepped up.

Until that is, he stuttered. Marvin Keller in goal held his nerve, and won the game of poker as he guessed correctly and flopped down on the midfielder’s tame effort.

In the end, he more than anyone would have breathed a huge sigh of relief as the ball trickled into the Young Boys net.

Crowd get the manager's message

Not to suggest that Brendan Rodgers is playing 4-D chess, but the longer the game went on and the longer the home side had somehow failed to find the back of the net, the more your mind was cast back to the Celtic manager’s jab at his own fans following the win over St Mirren during the festive season.

At the time, it seemed a rather odd juncture to dig out the Celtic support for a lack of patience after a routine home win, but his rather pointed mention of their groans during the Brugge match here when Maeda played a backwards pass just before he netted Celtic’s equaliser seem to have been designed for just this scenario.

After an impressive first half, Celtic went through a sticky patch after the interval. The visitors had dropped much deeper, denying the hosts the space in behind they had gleefully exposed in the opening 45.

Still though, the crowd stuck with them. And their patience was rewarded.

Kasper Schmeichel double save proves key

When Celtic were just struggling a little around the hour mark, the last thing they needed was to concede a goal to deflate the stadium, but it looked for all the world as though that was precisely what was about to happen.

Joel Monteiro broke down the right for Young Boys and his cross fell perfectly to Males on the penalty spot. He must have thought he was about to score, and in fact, he was hardly alone. The whole of Celtic Park did.

But on the day he signed a new deal at the club, veteran keeper Schmeichel proved his worth and then some with a remarkable double save, denying the midfielder twice from point-blank range.

The intervention was to prove invaluable, setting Celtic up for a famous triumph.