It should be recalled that Celtic drew 1:1 at home with AEK in the first-leg, and this means that, Celtic already had it all to do in Athens before a loosed defending presented AEK with an early chance within the sixth minute of the match where Rodrigo Galo blasting home from the centre of the area after a Niklas Hult cut-back was not intercepted.

Celtic then engaged in an offensive game but continued to look susceptible to the counter and it was not a huge surprise when AEK scored the second goal of the match in the 50th minute, as Marko Livaja nodded in from close range after Vassilis Lambropoulos headed a free-kick down to the former Inter man.

With two goals down, Celtic  were forced to pile men forward as a result and eventually pulled one back in 78 minutes through Sinclair's well-placed header, but AEK managed to hang on.

This means, AEK qualify to play in the champions league with 3:2 aggregate while Celtic will be playing in Europa League. The draw for the champions league group stage which will also feature UEFA awards will be held towards the end of August.