Ghanaian winger Wakaso Mubarak put Celtic in the lead in the first quarter of an hour in Austria on his loan debut.
Brazilian striker Alan then levelled for the home side, his 35th minute shot deflected off defender Efe Ambrose. Minutes before, only Celtic keeper Craig Gordon’s fingertips had kept out Andre Ramlho’s header.
After the restart, Gordon produced a superb double save to keep Salzburg at bay again. Scott Brown put the Scots back in front on the hour, his 30-yard screamer helped on its way by Andre Ramalho’s leg. With 12 minutes left, Salzburg captain Jonatan Soriano earned the Austrians a share of the points with a free-kick, which flew over the wall and into the top corner of Gordon’s net.
Celtic boss Ronny Deila said: “It was a good result against a very good team. We worked better as a team today and stood the distance better.”
On Gordon’s heroics in goal he added: “He was marvellous. He has been good all season and he is a top professional.”
In the other game in Celtic’s group, on-loan Manchester United forward Angelo Henriquez was among the scorers as Dinamo Zagreb routed Astra Giurgiu of Romania 5-1.
