All Bar�a�s football

Match

Marcador del partit

Date: Tuesday, 04 Mar
Competition: ???label.competicio1???
Stadium: Camp Nou, Barcelona

Resultat:

FC Barcelona: 1
Celtic G.: 0

Match report

Match Report
Pre-Match

Match Report

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Goal

1-0 Xavi (2')

Bar�a ease into quarters (1-0)

Jordi Clos

Bar�a were once again vastly superior to Celtic in part two of this Champions League second round encounter. An early goal from the home side made a comeback for the Hoops as good as impossible.

Bar�a never looked troubled as they sailed into the last eight of the Champions League. Xavi opened the scoring after just two minutes and that was as good as game over before it had barely started. Having already won 3-2 in Glasgow, Bar�a knew they would need to concede three goals to go out, and with Gordon Strachan’s side looking far less impressive away from Celtic Park, the 5,000 vociferous visiting supporters were left to sing their way through a game that even the most optimistic amongst them would have found it hard to believe they were ever going to win.

But the image of the night from a Barcelona point of view was Messi hobbling off in dismay with what looked like a serious hamstring injury. It was certainly the low point of the evening.

Great start

Bar�a were ready from the start. The only goal of the game came just two minutes into the action, with all of Bar�a’s main attacking players involved in a build up from wing to wing. Then from the edge of the area, Ronaldinho laid the ball on to Sylvinho, who fed it on to Xavi to beat Boruc with a subtle strike. Bar�a were one-up, and it was one-way traffic from then on.

Messi injured

The ball was in Scottish territory almost the whole time, with Rijkaard’s side enjoying almost embarrassingly continuous possession of the ball, with attack after attack breaking through the green and white midfield. Ronaldinho and Sylvinho were working well together, but Eto’o and Puyol both failed to beat Celtic’s Polish goalkeeper from clear-cut opportunities. Perhaps the lack of urgency was to blame, and then an aura of dismay fell over the side when they saw Messi limping off in tears with what could be another serious injury for the young Argentinian. As Henry came on as substitute, concern over Messi’s fate seemed to knock the spirit out of the home side.

Uneventful second half

There was very little to get excited about from then on. Celtic did try to push forward but came up with very little to endanger the Barcelona defence. Ronaldinho and Deco did find some work for Boruc to do as the half grew older, but as time pressed on, the crowd was just getting colder and colder. There was one moment that raised the temperature a little when Eto’o had a chance to score in the 72nd minute, but decided to pass the ball on to Henry instead, only for the ball to be intercepted by the Celtic defence.

Playing for time

Barcelona had no reason to panic, and were happy to just let the minutes tick by, having realised by now that Celtic were well contained. The Scots finally conjured up some spirit in the last few minutes as they threw caution to the wind in the hope of at least grabbing a draw on the night. Such positive thinking almost proved costly for them though, as two late strikes from Eto’o and Gudjohnsen could easily have made it two-nil. They didn't go in, and the final score of 1-0 is perhaps a poor reflection of a game in which Bar�a dominated the proceedings from start to finish.

Preview

Five thousand Scottish fans

The second visit of a Scottish club this season will once again be marked by a massive influx of fans. Some 5,000 Celtic fans have tickets for the match and it is believed that a further 4 or 5,000 will turn up without tickets.

Let's finish the job

Jordi Clos

Bar�a welcome Celtic to the Camp Nou on Tuesday evening with the cushion of a 3-2 win at Celtic Park. However, Bar�a will have to break a good run of results for Celtic in Barcelona.

Camp Nou will decide which of the two clubs makes it through to the quarterfinals and Bar�a have everything in their favour after the 3-2 win in Scotland. It was a fine performance, especially as Celtic twice took the lead, but manager Frank Rijkaard and team captain Carles Puyol both stressed at Monday’s pre-match press conferences that there would be no room for complacency.

Tour� and Bojan back

Despite the defeat in the Calder�n on Sunday, Bar�a go into the Celtic game in good spirits. They are the only team in the Spanish league to retain possibilities in the three competitions (league, Cup and CL) and have been further boosted by the return of Tour� Yaya and Bojan (who could become the youngest scorer in the history of the competition). On the downside, Milito is ill and M�rquez is still out while Giovani has been excluded for technical reasons.

A good record at the Camp Nou

Celtic have earned a deserved reputation in their own stadium but their recent record against Bar�a is also enviable, remaining unbeaten in their last two visits to Barcelona. The two sides met in the UEFA Cup in the 2003/04 season and Celtic made it through after holding Bar�a to a goalless draw in the Camp Nou. A year later, Bar�a took their revenge in the Champions League although the Scots still managed to hold Bar�a to a 1-1 draw in the Camp Nou. By contrast, Celtic’s great rivals, Rangers, lost here 2-0 in the group stage.

Celtic need to score twice

The 2-3 score line from the first leg means that Gordon Strachan’s team have to score at least two gaols and so will have to open up their lines. At Celtic Park they chose to sit back and hit Bar�a on the counterattack, with an emphasis on the high ball. These tactics have not served them well in their away matches in the Champions League this season, where they have lost all three matches.