Celtic 2-2 Fenerbahce: Substitute Fernandao's double thwarts Ronny Deila's men

Image: Stefan Johansen looks to the sky after Celtic threw away a two-goal lead

Fenerbahce fought back from two goals down to hold Celtic to a 2-2 draw in Europa League.

The hosts capitalised on an excellent start, taking the lead in the 28th minute through Leigh Griffiths. Kris Commons doubled their advantage four minutes later to leave the Celtic faithful eyeing their first Europa League win of the season.

However, the Turkish side were handed a lifeline just before the break as substitute Fernandao, on in the 40th minute for the injured Volkan Sen, raced onto Efe Ambrose's poor header, before finishing past goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

Image: Fenerbache's Fernandao celebrates at Celtic Park

The visitors stormed back to level terms at the start of the second half as Fernandao rose highest to head home Nani's corner.

Despite Fenerbahce's fightback it was Ronny Deila's men who finished the stronger but they could not muster the decisive goal as they picked up their second point in Group A following the 2-2 draw in Ajax.

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Backed by the superb Celtic Park crowd the hosts made a fast start as Mikael Lustig crossed from the right to find Forrest on the edge of the box in just the third minute, but the winger pulled his shot wide.

Image: Leigh Griffiths opened the scoring for Celtic

After a difficult start Fenerbahce settled into the game and Lustig was needed at the other end, heading Sen's corner behind when Robin van Persie was lurking at the back post.

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Celtic finally broke the deadlock and it was fully deserved as Lustig flicked on Commons' corner into the path of Griffiths at the back post, who smashed the ball into the roof of the net at the second time of asking.

Ronny Deila admits Efe Ambrose is susceptible to mistakes, with the defender arguably at fault for both the goals Celtic conceded

The hosts doubled their lead soon after as Forrest burst past Sener Ozbayrakli to pull the ball back to Commons, who fired a powerful shot past Fabiano.

After Fernandao beat Ambrose to Nani's corner to head home his second of the night and the equaliser, Deila's side were on the ropes and the visitors almost grabbed a third with Fernandao lobbing the ball just wide.

Image: Celtic's Kris Commons shows his emotion after doubling the home side's lead

To their credit Celtic roared back in the final 20 minutes as Kieran Tierney and Forrest combined down the left, but the latter's shot was straight at Fabiano.

Celtic continued to push forward in the closing stages but Fenerbahce, who threw on defender Abdoulaye Ba for Raul Meireles with 10 minutes to go, held on for their first point of the campaign.

The draw means Celtic move up into second in Group A behind Molde, who the Scottish champions face in their next fixture in the competition on November 5.

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