Celtic did some show-boating last night and the locals loved it. This was a strange Champions League send-off from a team that has finished bottom of group E and is not even in the Uefa Cup after Christmas. This was an odd night, in which the lack of tension around Celtic’s fate left Gordon Strachan’s men free to play almost mindlessly attacking football.

Villarreal, however, were limp and lethargic, and not at all resembling a side vying with Manchester United to top the group. The Spaniards also had Guille Franco sent off after 35 minutes. That said, the returning Aiden McGeady was a thorn in Villarreal’s side, tormenting whichever hapless opponent tried to block his path.

But let’s cut to his “His Holiness”, the goalkeeper between Celtic’s sticks. If this was anyone’s night it was Artur Boruc’s, a man who has come under such consistent flak recently that entire forests have been felled to provide the newsprint for all the opprobrium. Whatever the eccentric and recently blundering Pole has been about, the Celtic fans adore him, and hailed him last night as if he was the Bishop of Katowice himself.

Midway through the second half, when Boruc dived to save splendidly from Nihat Kahveci, the entire stadium rose to acclaim the wayward son. They do like their hero worship at Celtic Park, and Boruc was well chuffed, punching the air and jabbing an appreciative finger towards the stands — and not the finger he normally reserves for the Rangers fans.

Celtic Park has known some special European nights down the years but this couldn’t be quoted among them, even despite Celtic’s performance. For a meaningless match a decent enough crowd in excess of 58,000 showed up but there was nothing raw or raucous about the atmosphere. Indeed, there were fleeting passages of this match that had something of the training ground about them.

Strachan also took the opportunity to be less intense about his tactics, playing McGeady in a freer, roving role, with Georgios Samaras alone up front supported by a phalanx of midfield players. Shunsuke Nakamura was another on-field wanderer, located centrally behind Samaras but still popping up here, there and everywhere.

The game was misshapen by the sending-off of Franco after 35 minutes. The Villarreal striker was seen to tangle with Gary Caldwell and then raise an arm at the Celtic defender, which the referee, Claudio Circhetta, swiftly rewarded with a red card. The Spanish side were furious at the referee’s decision but television evidence appeared to suggest that he was justified in his punishment, even if Franco’s action was hardly a full-bloodied assault.

It was a strange game all round, and not always a fluid production from Celtic, in spite of their two first-half goals. The affair was also pock-marked with outbreaks of aggression, with Villarreal putting in one or two thudding tackles, which the Spaniards persistently claimed were over-milked by Celtic in their reaction.

You knew this was an odd night by mere dint of the fact that Shaun Maloney — all 5ft 4in of him — scored Celtic’s opener with his head. Villarreal had already caused Celtic and Boruc some early scares by the time Mark Wilson broke to the left byline after 13 minutes and prodded over a cross.

Let’s be blunt about it: Sebastián Viera, the Villarreal goalkeeper, made quite a hash of trying to fist away Wilson’s cross, leaving the slightly startled Maloney to leap and head into the empty net from five yards.

McGeady’s second goal for Celtic one minute before half-time was as good a move as the Scottish champions have pieced together all season. From defence, Nakamura broke up Villarreal’s play and fed the ball to Andreas Hinkel, who in turn swept the ball infield to McGeady.

From near the centre circle, the Ireland player simply scampered forward before slamming a low, left-foot shot past Viera from 18 yards. McGeady, not always the accomplished finisher, was rightly well pleased with himself.

But this did not look like a Villarreal team keen to beat Manchester United to the top spot in group E. The Spaniards had posed some early danger, such as when Franco and Ariel Ibagaza had come close, but there was a lack of sharpness about Manuel Pellegrini’s side that Celtic were able to exploit. Indeed, Boruc, in welcoming the Celtic Park crowd’s serenading of him, even turned his back on the play at one point to applaud the home supporters.

McGeady, in particular, enjoyed this night the longer it went on. There was an elusiveness about the Celtic winger that the Celtic crowd came to recognise from previous seasons. If it remains true that McGeady’s decision-making is at times suspect, that could not detract from his spiky menace last night. Celtic were all the more alarming for his presence, and he tore forward with the ball at every opportunity.

In truth, Villarreal were drab. A Nihat Kahveci volley that flew wide following Ibagaza’s corner on the hour seemed a meagre flash of danger for such a talented side.

Celtic (4-4-2): A Boruc — A Hinkel, G Caldwell, S McManus, M Wilson (sub: D O’Dea, 81min) — A McGeady (sub: P McGowan, 75), S Brown, P Hartley, S Nakamura — S Maloney, G Samaras (sub: S McDonald, 81). Substitutes not used: M Brown, G Loovens, K Mizuno, P Caddis. Booked: Caldwell, McGowan.

Villarreal (4-4-2): S Viera — Á López, G Rodríguez, F Fuentes, Bruno - Cani, M Senna (sub: Nihat Kahveci, 46), Edmílson, M Fernández — A Ibagaza (sub: S Cazorla, 60), G Franco. Substitutes not used: D López, S Eguren, R Pirès, P Cygan. Booked: Senna, Edmílson, Á López, Ibagaza. Sent off: Franco.

Referee: C Circhetta (Switzerland).