The Celtic fans who made the trip to Italy could not have wished for a better start, as Łukasz Skorupski gift-wrapped the opener with a woeful pass that went straight to the grateful Daizen Maeda.
The Japan international wasted little time in rolling the ball across for his international teammate, Reo Hatate, to tap into the awaiting net to the delight of the travelling faithful. They almost had a second to celebrate in quick succession when Yang Hyun-jun forced Skorupski into a desperate-looking stop.
After being left dazed by their poor start, Bologna started to grow into the game as the half wore on, with Juan Miranda’s strike from the edge of the box bringing a save out of Kasper Schmeichel. While he failed to produce the leveller, Miranda did play a role in his side gaining a numerical advantage just after the half-hour mark, when Hatate picked up his second yellow card for kicking out at the Bologna defender.
To the visitors’ credit, they still managed to double their lead before the HT interval, as Kieran Tierney neatly flicked on a corner towards the far post for Auston Trusty to divert the ball in off the underside of the crossbar.
However, Celtic’s two-goal advantage quickly turned into a precarious one inside the opening 15 minutes of the second period. Motivated by Vincenzo Italiano’s HT team talk, Bologna broke Celtic’s resistance just minutes after Benjamín Domínguez had rattled the crossbar.
Substitute Jens Odgaard knocked on a near-post cross for Thijs Dallinga to produce a strong header that proved too powerful for Schmeichel. With momentum in the home side’s favour, it was only a matter of time until Rowe levelled the scoreline, collecting the ball just outside the box before utilising his tricky footwork to work the space to rifle home a left-foot shot.
Martin O'Neill’s charges subsequently showed great character to dig deep to hold on to what could be a useful point, leaving them just inside the top 24 and Bologna in 14th ahead of the late kick-offs.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jonathan Rowe (Bologna)