Dundee - 1 Celtic - 2 Teenage goalkeeper David Marshall strengthened his case to start at the Nou Camp on the same night that Robert Douglas remained on trial with UEFA.
Another impressive display by the 19-year-old rookie laid the foundations for Celtic's win at Dens Park - courtesy of Stilian Petrov and Henrik Larsson goals - which took them 19 points clear of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premier League.
Marshall's performance would have given Martin O'Neill great encouragement as he will not know until Monday whether the Scotland number one has won his appeal against the controversial red card against Barcelona after UEFA put the decision on hold.
The Celtic manager has been looking at all possibilities - including recalling Magnus Hedman from his loan spell with Ancona - but the 19-year-old again produced a performance beyond his years to give the club encouragement for next week's UEFA Cup showdown.
Marshall was vital to the club's latest success, especially as his team-mates looked more than shaky in the first half even with the return of Neil Lennon, Jackie McNamara, Alan Thompson, Didier Agathe, Neil Lennon and Larsson, who saved them against Motherwell. The Dundee attack continued to look menacing on the break and they soaked up the Celtic pressure comfortably in the early stages.
Marshall produced a brilliant save in the 38th minute, which turned the game, when he acrobatically turned Neil Barrett's 22-yard dipping strike over the crossbar.
That proved to be decisive as moments later Stephen Pearson nipped ahead of Mark Fotheringham to win the ball before charging downfield on the counter-attack. With just Larsson up, Petrov overlapped the young Scot and was picked out with the perfect pass before steering the ball past the hand of Julian Speroni.
O'Neill made a change at the break with Stan islav Varga failing to reappear from the dressingroom to be replaced by John Kennedy which suggested more injury concern for O'Neill.
Dundee continued to push for the equaliser and Petrov needed to head Steven Robb's free-kick behind for a corner.
But Celtic increased their lead in the 68th minute when Kennedy nodded Petrov's free-kick into the path of the Swede and he slipped the ball past Speroni at the second attempt for his 30th goal of the season.
Marshall again caught the eye by turning Nacho Novo's shot around the post in 90th minute but he was let down by his defence in the dying seconds as substitute Sebastian Kneissl pounced in the area to fire into the top corner from Robert Linn's ball.
However, despite the late loss of a clean sheet, the youngster's performance would not have gone unnoticed.
DUNDEE: Speroni, Mackay, Sancho, Mair, Hernandez Santos, Barrett (Cameron 79), Fotheringham, Brady, Robb (Linn 72), Novo, Milne (Kneissl 72). Subs Not Used: Soutar, Jablonski. Booked: Fotheringham, Barrett. Goal: Novo 90.
CELTIC: Marshall, McNamara, Balde, Varga (Kennedy 45), Agathe, Petrov, Lennon, Pearson, Thompson, Sylla (Smith 66), Larsson (Beattie 79). Subs Not Used: Douglas, Lambert. Goals: Petrov 38, Larsson 68.
Referee: W Young (Scotland).
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