Celtic qualified for the Champions League, as expected, but this second-leg play-off defeat was their first of the season.

Progress for Brendan Rodgers’ side was never in serious doubt following their 5-0 thrashing of the Kazakhstan champions at Parkhead last week. However, there were still some nervy moments in a pulsating encounter at the Astana Arena. Rodgers said: “It’s mixed emotions because we didn’t defend well enough and our possession at times wasn’t good enough either. I said to the players [at half-time] we started the game very well. We wanted to control the tempo but we were too loose in our passing and our positioning, we weren’t compact enough when they had the ball. That didn’t allow us to press.”

The Northern Irishman was again forced to start with a makeshift central defence due to injuries. Nir Bitton, essentially a midfielder, had passed a fitness test on an ankle injury and the midfielder was paired with Ajer, who had played in the 2-0 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Saturday.

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The only other Celtic change from the first leg saw the midfielder Callum McGregor take over from Tom Rogic, who started on the bench. If anything, the Scottish champions looked more like getting the first goal than their hosts in the early exchanges. Patrick Twumasi drilled a shot from 20 yards just past the post in the 10th minute but it was not the whirlwind start a side needing five goals might have been expected to make. Sinclair and McGregor both had good efforts as Celtic moved with menace.

The home side went in front slightly against the run of play when Dmitri Shomko edged towards the Celtic box and drilled in a left-foot drive which came off Kristoffer Ajer leaving Craig Gordon with no chance. Astana’s supporters were energised with optimism but that should have been extinguished seconds later when Scott inclair burst through the fragile Kazakh defence only to blast his shot against home goalkeeper Nenad Eric.

However, the former Manchester City and Aston Villa player was more accurate in the 34th minute when, from the edge of the box, in trademark style, he curled the ball high into the net. Moments later, James Forrest headed a Kieran Tierney cross past the near post before Gordon brilliantly tipped over a powerful header from Marin Anicic over the bar following a Serikzhan Muzhikov corner.

Muzhikov’s early second-half goal came after an uncharacteristic mistake by Scott Brown in giving away possession, then heading a cross on to the Astana player who poked the ball in from close range. A minute later the unmarked Twumasi headed a Shomko cross past Gordon and suddenly some hope for the home side was restored although four more goals were required.

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Rodgers replaced McGregor with Rogic and Forrest with the teenage defender Anthony Ralston before Stuart Armstrong came on for Sinclair. Leigh Griffiths missed a great chance when he controlled a Tierney cross on his chest before thrashing the ball over the bar and looked further aghast seconds later as Twumasi raced in from the right and squeezed the ball past Gordon from a tight angle.

Eric made a fine save from Griffiths’ free-kick just before Gordon prevented Twumasi and Muzhikov adding to Astana’s lead. Twumasi then shot over the bar from 10 yards with the Hoops defence reeling but – on an 80th-minute break – Olivier Ntcham steered a shot past Eric which allowed Celtic to breathe more comfortably. Griffiths, with two minutes of injury time remaining, then helped himself on the break with a fine angled drive.

Rodgers added: “I thought we were going to get through this campaign without the anxiety but that little period [at the start of the second half] they scored two quick goals. We were working on the side to plug gaps. I then have to give credit to the players because they were on the ropes for 15-20 minutes, but they regained their composure.”