Elfsborg 0-0 Celtic (agg 0-1)
- From the section Football
Celtic endured a nervous 90 minutes in Boras to complete an aggregate win against Elfsborg and progress to the Champions League play-off round.
Mohamed Bangura, who is on loan at Elfsborg from Celtic, threatened to draw the Swedes level in the tie before Joe Ledley had a shot well saved at the other end.
The hosts were lively going forward but lacked the necessary cutting edge.
And proved to be enough to send Celtic through.
Elfsborg drop into the Europa League play-off round, and the draw for that and the Champions League play-off stage will take place on Friday.
Celtic manager Neil Lennon could hardly hide his delight at the final whistle but a player he had signed just under two years ago looked more than capable of denting the manager's ambitions in the early stages at the Boras Arena.
Sierra Leone international Bangura, 24, controlled a cross with his back to goal and attempted an overhead kick that was not far wide of Fraser Forster's left-hand post.
The visitors went in search of a precious away goal but Mikael Lustig's endeavour to get to the byline was not rewarded with a header on target by Georgios Samaras.
Ledley had an even better chance to score after getting the break of the ball in a crowded penalty area, while Commons' low free-kick hit the base of the defensive wall and the Welshman retrieved only to see his shot superbly saved by former Manchester City goalkeeper Kevin Stuhr Ellegaard.
Though the hosts were seeing plenty of the ball, their final product was often poor while Celtic struggled to retain possession on the artificial pitch.
Elfsborg were in the ascendancy throughout the second period and a long throw-in gave Forster and his defence cause for concern, though the offside flag did eventually halt the attack.
The home side appealed for a penalty when Kelvin Wilson, who is expected to return to Nottingham Forest later this week, slid in to challenge James Keene in the box on the hour but referee Vladislav Bezborodov allowed play to continue, despite Keene's claim of a foul.
There was still time for Keene to blaze an injury-time volley over the bar, but Celtic held on to book their place in the next stage of the Champions League.