The Scottish Premiership side were beaten in the second-leg but won the tie overall.
Brendan Rodgers celebrates as Celtic book their place in the group-stages
Celtic have booked their place in the group-stages of the Champions League for the first time since the 2013-14 season, but only after an incredibly tense night in Israel.
The Hoops appeared to go into the second-leg of their play-off tie with Hapoel Be’er Sheva already with one foot in the next round of the competition after securing a 5-2 win at Parkhead.
Scott Brown celebrates scoring Celtic’s fifth goal in the first-leg
However, Hapoel – buoyed by their two away goals – seized the initiative in the contest, earning a fortuitous penalty in the early stages.
And while Craig Gordon saved Maharan Radi’s firm effort, the home side did not have to wait too long for the opener as former Chelsea youngster Ben Sahar’s header had enough power on it to find its way into the net.
Hapoel scored twice and missed a penalty on a dramatic night
With Brendan Rodgers surely telling his players at the break that they must not let Hapoel gain anymore momentum in the tie, he would have been furious as Barak Bakhar’s side halved the deficit just three minutes after the restart as a calamitous moment from Saidy Janko and Craig Gordon presented Ovidiu Hoban with the simplest of tap-ins.
But the Bhoys managed to show the kind of steel that has often been missing from their European performances in recent years to hold on and book their place at the top table of continental football.
And after the contest, Leigh Griffiths, Scott Sinclair and Patrick Roberts all took to Twitter to reflect on the result and the club’s return to the group-stages.
Kieran Tierney celebrates Celtic’s progress
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