A terrific defensive display brought Celtic an important Champions League point as they held last season's Europa League winners Atalanta to a goalless draw in Bergamo.

Having lost all previous seven matches on Italian soil in this competition, Celtic resisted periods of immense pressure from the hosts to take a significant step in their bid to reach the knockout stage.

Kasper Schmeichel made some excellent saves and Atalanta wasted a number of good opportunities, but the defensive discipline of the Scottish champions ultimately frustrated the Serie A side.

After two tough away matches, Celtic now have back-to-back home games against RB Leipzig and Club Brugge with four points in the bank, while next up for Atalanta is a trip to Stuttgart.

Celtic's fortunes could hardly have fluctuated more wildly across their opening two Champions League matches – the high of a tremendous 5-1 home win against Slovan Bratislava on matchday one, followed by a chastening 7-1 thrashing at the hands of Borussia Dortmund.

The Scottish champions looked a far more compact team than the ragged outfit that were picked apart in Germany as they rebounded from that loss by keeping just their second ever away clean sheet in the competition.

Atalanta clearly identified defending crosses as a weakness in their opponents and spent the first half bombarding the Celtic box with deliveries from wide on both flanks.

Mario Pasalic was on the end of many of them and saw a header crash back off the crossbar with Schmeichel beaten.

The Danish goalkeeper had earlier produced a great stop to deny Ademola Lookman, and made a brilliant save to deny Mateo Retegui as the home side came on strong at the end of the first half.

Celtic were defending well without having much opportunity to break out, though Nicolas Kuhn might have done better after outpacing the Atalanta defence and breaking into the box before being crowded out.

Scoreless at half-time was a solid foundation on which to build for the visitors, and they almost had the dream start to the second period when Alex Valle's deflected strike had to be tipped over by Marco Carnesecchi in the Atalanta goal.

The home side were soon cranking up the pressure again and Marten de Roon's strike from the edge of the box drew a good save from Schmeichel.

Kyogo Furuhashi came off the bench and got in behind the Atalanta defence, only for his lobbed effort to drop the wrong side of the bar.

Atalanta continued to dominate the ball, but Celtic’s sheer doggedness in defence frustrated the life out of them. The visitors held on to take a well-earned point and the acclaim of their travelling fans who applauded a job well done.

"An assault on your spirit" was how Brendan Rodgers described that walloping in the Westfalenstadion. The manager was bullish in his insistence he would not compromise his attacking philosophy for a more pragmatic style against the bigger guns in this competition.

This was a different Celtic though, a more resolute and organised unit than the side that crumbled against Dortmund.

Adam Idah starting ahead of Kyogo to lead the line was a tactical switch from Rodgers, with the Irishman offering himself up for direct balls when Celtic needed to relieve the pressure and get themselves up the pitch.

In the absence of defensive lynchpin Cameron Carter-Vickers, Liam Scales and Auston Trusty stood up with towering displays at the heart of the defence. Those two were standouts in a tremendous collective effort.

The midfield trio of Callum McGregor, Arne Engels and Reo Hatate put in tireless shifts, and while the team's use of the ball could have been better at times, they eliminated the type of individual errors that proved so ruinous in Dortmund.

For too long Celtic have been a soft touch away from home in Europe, but Rodgers may finally have struck upon a gameplan that makes them an altogether more resilient side away from the comforts of Celtic Park.

Atalanta made European football sit up and take notice when they embarked on that epic Europa League run last season that took them all the way to the trophy.

They look very comfortable at Champions League level, having drawn at home to Arsenal and dispatched Shakhtar Donestk in their two previous European matches.

What they lacked here was a killer instinct. With the amount of possession, territory and good chances they had, they will wonder how they failed to break Celtic down.

Much of that is down to an excellent defensive display from the Parkhead men, but having been similarly frustrated against Arsenal on matchday one, the Italians will need to adapt and find new ideas against sides capable of absorbing pressure if they are to go on another memorable European run this season.