Barcelona vs Celtic, Tue 23rd Oct, KO 19:45

When they nearly scored in the first minute, I think most of us shat it and seen a skelping but after that we were fairly comfortable for the rest of the game.

 

Despite the result, I'd love to see highlights, if just for Sammys goal. Anyone got highlights?

 

Looking back I probably would of kept Mulgrew and Brown on but alas Brown is carrying an injury and I've never seen Mulgrew look so tired.

 

From the stands you could see Brown was dead, he had nothing left to give. The players gave their all, Lennon played it spot on IMO. Only thing that could have went much better was Sammy not getting injured and having only 3 minutes added on

 

Just got back this afternoon. I had a great seat behind the Celtic dug-out, couple of metres from Lennon. Was very interesting to see him manage the team during the game. You can see he really cares about the team and the club.

I was devestated after their second goal. I only started thinking about a possible point when their strike at the end of the game hit the post. When the final goal came in, all people around me were celebrating and I just burried my head in my hands. Felt really lonely and sad that moment, but was proud about our performance. Waited (almost with tears in my eyes) till the stadium was almost empty (except for the Celtic support).

Oh well, it was good to see Celtic give Barca a game at the Camp Nou.

 

Wonder if you concurred with Lawwell

 

Seen paddypower posted that Celtic are the only team in 2012 to stop messi getting a goal or an assist.

Is this true?

 

100% true I believe.

 

When Villa hit the post I really did think that was it, it's not Barcelona's day, but unfortunately it wasn't to be..

Already looking forward to the return leg though, put in another performance like that and we can surely take some points off them

 

[ame="http://vimeo.com/52037875"]http://vimeo.com/52037875[/ame]

 

Same here.

That 2nd goal was like taking a kidney shot from Mike Tyson, but looking at the scoreboard and realising you've made it to the last second of the last round.

 

Anybody else still feel like they should be celebrating? their second goal hasn't sunk in yet at all.

 

I would agree with him. I'm interested to know what you thought of the match mate?

 

They lost 1-0 to Chelsea and drew 0-0 to AC Milan

 

One word was repeated time and again in the gut-wrenching minutes following Celtic's desperately cruel last-minute defeat to Barcelona at Camp Nou: brave. What a brave display of bravery that couldn't have been braver had brave John Terry been fighting a bear. In fact, it was a minor miracle that Sky's closing credits didn't mock up Scott Brown as Mel Gibson in Braveheart, blue paint slapped on his face and shaking his * at his enemies before Jordi Alba supplied the metaphorical arrow to the *.
Until that late, late goal it had been a fantastic performance from Celtic on a night when Scottish football looked set to record one of its greatest European results of the past decade. Resolute? Hugely. Determined? Absolutely. Heroic? Arguably. Fortunate? Probably. But brave? Well, not exactly.
Bravery against Barcelona is to go out all guns blazing and try and take them on at their own game. Suicidal, yes, but undoubtedly brave in a 'Charge of the Light Brigade', inviting a massacre kind of way.
What Celtic did was actually entirely sensible. Getting men behind the ball in an attempt to deny Barcelona space and then snatching a goal from a set-piece is basically the only way to try and combat those tremendously cultured Catalans. Most times it doesn't work, but every so often a team will get lucky. This doesn't require a particular brand of bravery - it is deeply pragmatic.
But still the process of patronising Celtic begun even before their broken set of players trudged off the pitch at Camp Nou, their heads clutched in their hands after Alba's goal with 30 seconds remaining saw them defeated.
The words 'brave' and 'plucky' - the latter of which, like 'bust-up' or 'showdown talks', only ever seems to apply to football - were thrown around with abandon, fitting as they did the pre-prescribed narrative when a weaker team tackles one of the best. We even had extensive debate about whether Celtic players - professional players mind - would be more concerned about arranging shirt swaps than doing their job.
But to reduce their performance to a concept as flimsy as mere bravery did Celtic a disservice, suggesting that their ability to almost hold Barcelona to a draw was merely a near triumph of the will, of good old British passion.
It was that, but it was also a near triumph of tactical discipline, of positional awareness and of technical excellence in and around their own penalty area.
The expert timing of Efe Ambrose's tackles could not be attributed to bravery alone, and neither could the performance of the exceptional Fraser Forster in goal, as he made all manner of saves to prevent Lionel Messi from scoring his 300th career goal, even if he could not prevent Andres Iniesta and Alba from turning around Celtic's improbable lead given to them by the equally improbable figure of Georgios Samaras.
It wasn't bravery that made him fling out his left arm to expertly parry a Messi header in the second half - the pick of his eight saves - it was technique and ability, allied to a bit of muscle memory.
In fact, Forster admirably refused to go along with the narrative that Celtic were merely fortunate just to be on the same pitch as Barca. When asked whether it was "the best of nights as well as the worst" by Sky, he replied: "Definitely the worst."
So arguably a bad night for Celtic, ultimately, yet a fine one for football north of the border. It is only a matter of months since harbingers of doom predicted the death of Scottish football when Rangers were demoted to the fourth tier following the club's rather spectacular bankruptcy and implosion.
It was said Celtic would shrivel up without the competition provided by their enemies in Glasgow yet, having won at Spartak Moscow for their first ever away win in the Champions League group stage, here they were within 30 seconds of taking a point off arguably the best team on the planet. They even prevented Messi from scoring at Camp Nou - an achievement bordering on remarkable given his strike-rate on home turf.
Manager Neil Lennon recognised that Celtic's performance had a wider significance. He said: "I thought the team were magnificent. It is bittersweet really, it is hard to take losing the game in the manner in which we did but I am so proud of the players, I think they gave the club and country a huge shot in the arm. There is a mixture of disappointment and anger that we didn't see it through to the end of the game. The players are hurting, they are angry, whatever you want to call it but it gave them a real a taste of playing in the Champions League at the highest level and they played fantastically well."
Lennon also succumbed to describing his players as "brave" - and they were, to an extent at least. But the defining characteristic of what was almost one of Celtic's great European nights was something a bit more than just bravery. It was ability too.


i liked that article

 

might be at the Nou Camp

 

It's this season not 2012.

 

Nerve-racking :smiley-laughing002:

It'd be overkill to repeat it all as I touched on most of it earlier but I didn't underestimate Celtic coming into the match...I didn't realize how terrific their back 4 would hold their line and nick balls away with incredible efficiency

Wanyama I focused on because I had heard/read so much about him and he impressed, as well

Lots of little things I was disappointed with in our side's play but many good things to take from it as well, obviously...A rested Xavi is still imperious, Alba is our Alves for that left side and very happy for the cantera player, Bartra, who played like a veteran

I like matches that bring out the best from players just like any fan of the game I suppose...Particularly pleased to see a clean game with no controversies...Plus, even if you were a neutral, always exhilarating to have a last second finish

Great night of European football between two great clubs with passionate fans...Wish I could go to Glasgow for the return leg but just so happens to coincide with our due date

 

First time I've been on since the game, but that was simply heartbreaking. I'm still gutted, almost 24 hours later.

We stifled Barcelona, the best club side on the planet (possibly ever) for 93 minutes and were even in the lead at one point. At the Nou Camp. Bearing in mind the average age of our squad and the inexperience of our manager in the UCL, I thought that it was an extraordinary effort from Celtic last night. Full of bravery and tactical discipline. Last night was the night that our current set of Bhoys became men, regardless of the final outcome.

Another thing that I was particularly pleased with was how well we handled Lionel Messi. Two tackles in particular stand out in my mind. Ledley tracking back to dispossess him in the first half and then an absolutely outstanding sliding tackle from Wilson in the second half, when he was breaking through on goal and certain to score. Finally, the two fantastic saves from Forster, one from the header and the one from close range, which was possibly the best save he's ever made.

I know we got beat, but there is no shame in the manner we were beaten. Many teams go to the Nou Camp and crumble. We done ourselves proud and our performance last night leaves me very optimistic that we can get at least a point, possibly all three, against them at Celtic Park in two weeks.

 

Sums all my thoughts up here