{"id":399,"date":"2012-09-12T07:46:11","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T06:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wolf.servers.eqx.misp.co.uk\/~etimsnet\/?p=399"},"modified":"2012-09-12T08:49:05","modified_gmt":"2012-09-12T07:49:05","slug":"399","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=399","title":{"rendered":"M\u00e9s que une club – Celtic & Barcelona"},"content":{"rendered":"

elcapetan88 <\/em><\/strong><\/span>looks<\/em> <\/em><\/strong>ahead to Celtics Champions League nights with a look back at\u00a0some special memories from meetings\u00a0between our beloved club and the wonderful Barcelona..<\/p>\n

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The importance of securing Champions League football this season cannot be\u00a0understated. The rewards in terms of financial benefit and squad composition can be\u00a0discussed at more length elsewhere. In short, the European income stream – which will be\u00a0anything between a few million if you are a begrudging and depressed MSM hack to \u00a320m\u00a0plus if you are a determined Internet bampot (love that an initially derogatory term is now a\u00a0cult badge of honour) – will continue to develop the club’s sound financial footing. The\u00a0impact of securing high level competition to supplement our domestic campaigns is\u00a0similarly notable. Elements of the Twitterati were claiming last night that potential interest\u00a0in key players was more swiftly dismissed as a consequence of our European placing but,\u00a0more critically, our increasingly close-knit squad now gets to stick together for its biggest\u00a0challenge. We may suffer in terms of what we can offer players domestically (although the\u00a0opportunity to win titles should always appeal more than mid or lower table mediocrity\u00a0elsewhere – dear Lord what has Jordan Rhodes done …) but there is no doubt that on\u00a0September 19th, November 7th and December 5th it will be proven to our current crop of\u00a0players that they are representing the most phenomenal club in the world.<\/p>\n

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From that\u00a0comes the central perspective of this article – Neil Lennon and his players achievement in\u00a0getting into the group stage should be regarded as a key feat in our contemporary history.\u00a0The younger generation are experiencing a football world without Rangers and already it\u00a0looks, feels and smells better! The reality that they will have the first season sans Huns\u00a0now layered with the intensity, drama and passion of the highest level of European football\u00a0is a fantastic prospect. It is often trotted out that Celtic Park on a European night is an\u00a0awesome sight and experience – the blandness of the platitude almost does a disservice to\u00a0what anyone lucky enough to attend is subjected to. Those that have experienced it like I\u00a0have will probably just nod appreciatively and smile at this point but I am absolutely
\ndelighted for those lucky fans that are anticipating for the first time the visit of Barcelona\u00a0(as well as Benfica and Spartak).<\/p>\n

Regardless of the outcome of our group games a\u00a0positive trajectory for our season is now confirmed. We push towards retaining our title\u00a0whilst savouring the European experience and introducing a new generation to those\u00a0special Tuesday and Wednesday nights. For those of us who are merely salivating at the\u00a0prospect of re-acquainting ourselves with them I’m going to indulge us all a little in our\u00a0memories of recent encounters with our kindred spirits from Catalonia …<\/p>\n

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Thursday 11 March 2004<\/em><\/p>\n

Celtic 1-0 Barcelona<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Admittedly this was a Uefa Cup tie but, save for a wonderful sequence to be identified in\u00a0a subsequent encounter, this proves to be my favourite overall game against Barcelona.\u00a0Whether it was trying to comprehend the chaos that had unfolded at half time, the\u00a0realisation that our first choice goalkeeper had not returned for the second half, the\u00a0palpitations every time Ronaldinho got on the ball, or the sheer elation as we watched\u00a0Henrik’s deft knockdown drift through the air before Thommo smashed home the only\u00a0goal, this was an absorbing game. I will always be grateful to the old timer who sat in front\u00a0of me in the Jock Stein Upper. Inevitably we hugged each other as we danced around\u00a0celebrating the goal but it was what he said next that sticks with me. “Jesus, wee man\u00a0(ignore the fact that I was taller than him), we’re on our way through after the 0-0 out there.\u00a0Ya beauty!” I’ll claim it was because it was incredibly noisy in the stadium at that point as\u00a0the reason I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it was only the first leg but I took that as a\u00a0sign. No guesses as to what my score-cast was for the second leg. Who knows what the\u00a0old timer thought when we played Barcelona for the third time a fortnight later!<\/p>\n

Tuesday 14 September 2004<\/em><\/p>\n

Celtic 1-3 Barcelona<\/strong><\/p>\n

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This game contained one of my most incredible European experiences at Celtic Park -despite the end result. Ask anyone who was there to recall the moments between the\u00a053rd and 59th minutes and attempt to put into words the intensity of the occasion and\u00a0the transformation of emotions that culminated in a release of joy and delirium inside\u00a0the stadium that night. Trailing 1-0 from the first half there was a moment of angst and\u00a0fear when Barcelona were awarded a penalty eight minutes after half time. The moment\u00a0Ronaldinho stepped up was unforgettable – particularly from the Jock Stein stand. The\u00a0swirling scarves and incredible noise provided an unbelievable backdrop for the kick –\u00a0which David Marshall spectacularly saved! I’d argue at that point you could feel a renewed\u00a0surge of energy pour from the stands onto the pitch. Six minutes later, Chris Sutton\u00a0would stretch out a leg and thunder a finish into the top corner. I am not sure if I have the
\nadjectives to emphasise the power of that moment – it was simply brilliant.<\/p>\n

Wednesday 20 February 2008<\/em><\/p>\n

Celtic 2-3 Barcelona<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Whilst the clinical brilliance of Leo Messi might take the general headlines from this\u00a0particular encounter and most Celts would recognise we were always up against it in\u00a0taking on a side that were emerging to be simply phenomenal just stop for a moment\u00a0and consider this … we led twice! The Bhoys went toe to toe with footballing genius\u00a0and actually paused for a break at half time 2-1 in front! The power of big Jan’s opening\u00a0header stood in sharp contrast to Barry Robson’s looping effort but both added two more\u00a0spectacular moments to the list of fantastic scenes witnessed on a European night.<\/p>\n

Who knows what Group G is going to throw up this year – it is is simply fantastic that we\u00a0are there. Those that will experience the group stage for the first time will be blown away\u00a0– there may be penalties to save, red cards that turn a game and there will certainly be\u00a0goals to celebrate. Even those of us who can call on memories like the ones here will have\u00a0to remember that our last participation was four years ago. It’s been a while so hello, old\u00a0friend … we’re having a party in the Champions League!<\/p>\n

elcapetan88<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

elcapetan88 looks ahead to Celtics Champions League nights with a look back at\u00a0some special memories from meetings\u00a0between our beloved club and the wonderful Barcelona..  …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s2J7If-399","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=399"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":583,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions\/583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}