SO spoiled have Celtic supporters been for European adventures that the reaction from some to this year's Champions League draw was akin to a child being told they were getting cabbage for their dinner.

"Barcelona?" they said, grimacing. "Again? Ach, we played them last year."

Last year's two meetings, of course, just happened to produce one of the most famous results in the club's history, Celtic beating Tito Vilanova's side at home on their way to reaching the last 16 of the competition. It was difficult to imagine too many passed up the chance to get tickets to the rematch last night because they felt there was nothing new worth seeing but, in any case, it turned out there were plenty of examples of how much football can change even in the space of less than a year.

None of the goalscorers from that 2-1 win were present. Victor Wanyama is now a Southampton player, Tony Watt has been sent to Lierse in Belgium to hone his fitness, while Lionel Messi missed out with a thigh injury. In his place came Neymar, a Santos player last November before £50m changed hands in the summer, with all attention on him to see if he could fill the void left by Messi's enforced absence. Here was something fresh for Celtic Park to observe, none more so than Mikael Lustig, who could have done with eyes in the back of his head to keep tracks on the wandering Brazilian.

Neymar effectively started wide left in Barcelona's strikerless system - the attendant Craig Levein would have been beaming with pride - but was often to be found scurrying inside and making a beeline for the penalty box. Lustig did a more than decent job, keeping close tabs on the 21 year-old, blocking his crosses and tracking his runs. On the one occasion in the first half that Neymar did get away from him to dash infield, the concluding shot drifted harmlessly wide of goal.

Like every good showman there is a touch of the theatrics about the Brazilian and he was perhaps fortunate not to pick up a booking for tumbling to the turf rather easily. He did not endear himself any further with the home crowd for his role in Scott Brown's sending off. The Celtic captain's challenge was fairly desperate, and there were some afters too, but Neymar's wriggling around on the turf like a fish trying to get out of the net and back in to the water undoubtedly influenced referee Stephane Lannoy's decision to flourish the red card rather than yellow.

When Fraser Forster denied Neymar in a one-on-one situation in injury time, it was almost as if Celtic had scored themselves such was the crowd's reaction. Unlike Andres Iniesta, afforded a gracious round of applause upon his departure, Neymar did little to make new friends last night.

There was someone new in the visitors' dug-out, too. Tata Martino is the man charged with continuing the work started by Pep Guardiola and taken on by Vilanova and, although he has not made too many changes to Barcelona's inimitable possession-based game, there were signs of a few tweaks here and there. Unlike in recent years, the Barcelona players were allowed to pass the ball more than a handful of yards, often deploying long diagonal balls to try to get the wide players in behind the full-backs. The famed tika-taka was still there, although without Messi there to provide give-and-goes on the edge of the box, it seemed to lack its usual zip. Some stoic, solid defending - from Efe Ambrose in particular - was another reason for that lack of fluency, as was Forster whose late double save from Neymar and Alexis Sanchez fell into the world-class category.

There were changes to Celtic's make-up as well, and not just in terms of personnel. Georgios Samaras, fresh from his hat trick against Kilmarnock, was in the starting line-up but there was an adjustment to his role, the Greek stationed centrally rather than on his traditional wide-left beat, with Anthony Stokes offering support.

What did not alter was Samaras' tireless running. A late booking for persistent fouling was a sign of how busy he had been on the night, even if on this occasion he was unable to embroider a strong performance with a goal or an assist. One late run and cross drifted teasingly across the Barcelona goal without finding a Celtic head or toe to turn it in.

The most significant difference from last year was, of course, the scoreline. Even with 10 men Celtic had continued to push for a winning goal, Victor Valdes making a terrific stop from James Forrest's goalbound drive with Charlie Mulgrew then heading the resultant corner wide of the goal.

Just as in the previous group game against AC Milan, Celtic would come to regret their profligacy. Neymar was involved in the build-up when Barcelona went in front, shoveling a pass wide to Sanchez whose cross was headed beyond Forster by Cesc Fabregas. It was cruel on Celtic but a sign that, despite all that changes in football, teams like Barcelona often find a way to win.