CELTIC’S hopes of recording another famous victory over Barcelona and keeping alive their hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the Europa League, or even the Champions League, will increase considerably should Lionel Messi fail to recover from a sickness bug in time.
The Nou Camp club certainly missed the Argentinian greatly at home against Malaga on Saturday; they failed to score the first time in 24 games, were held to a 0-0 draw and allowed Real Madrid to move further in front at the head of La Liga.
Brendan Rodgers and his players will be praying that Messi, who netted the sixth Champions League hat-trick of his career in the 7-0 win over the Scottish champions in Catalonia back in September, is unavailable for their penultimate Group C outing on Wednesday evening.
Luis Enrique, the Barcelona manager, admitted the superstar had been “very bad” before the game, but is hopeful he will play against against Celtic. “It's nothing serious,” he said. “He's already recovering."
Yet, even if the man who many shrewd judges believe to be the greatest player of all-time, never mind in the world today, is sidelined the Scottish champions’ prospects of repeating their UEFA Cup triumph of 2004 and Champions League win of 2012 will be slender.
Enrique’s depleted team – they were also missing the Andres Iniesta, who will be out with knee ligament damage until early next month, and Luis Suarez, who was serving a suspension – still managed 28 attempts at goal at the weekend.
With Suarez set to return and partner Neymar up front, the visitors will field a formidable strike partnership, which has collectively plundered 17 goals in all competitions in the 2016/17 campaign, even if Messi is out. The likelihood of passing up so many chances two games running is minute.
Celtic certainly have a chance. Nobody gave them a hope of winning four years ago when, thanks to the sensible ultra-defensive tactics of manager Neil Lennon, they prevailed courtesy of a late winner from substitute Tony Watt.
Luis Enrique, the Barcelona manager, admitted his charges had struggled to break down Malaga due to their adversaries, who were reduced to nine men, sitting so deep. “The density of opposition players was incredible,” he said. “It is always difficult against an opponent who plays like that.”
Rodgers would be well advised to adopt a similar approach to his predecessor Lennon and look to use the pace of James Forrest to hit Barcelona on the counter attack.
Juande Ramos, the Malaga coach, curtly dismissed any suggestions his side had won a point against an average Barcelona team due to the absence of Iniesta, Messi and Suarez on Saturday evening. “They still played with 11 internationals,” he said.
Celtic should be far more competitive than they were last time around when Dorus de Vries was preferred to Craig Gordon in goals, Cristian Gamboa made a surprise debut as a wing back in a 5-4-1 formation and Moussa Dembele failed to convert an early penalty.
Rodgers’s team has matured greatly since that record loss and have shown they can compete at the highest level in Europe in their draws to Manchester City at home later that month and Borussia Moenchengladbach away earlier this month.
But the Glasgow club were blown away by the backlash to the disappointing result which their rivals suffered – an understrength line-up lost 2-1 at home to Alaves three days earlier – last time out and could very well be again.
There will have to be a visible reaction to Real - who defeated Atletico 3-0 in the final Madrid derby to be played, in the league at least, in the Vicente Calderon Stadium on Saturday thanks to a Ronaldo hat-trick - moving four points clear from Barcelona to placate their supporters
Throw in the fact that qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League has still to be secured due to the 3-1 defeat they suffered to City three weeks ago and it could be a difficult old night for Celtic.
No matter. The game on Wednesday night will be another wonderful European night at Celtic Park. The 60,000-capacity stadium will be sold-out and the atmosphere generated by both sets of supporters promises to be electrifying.
Being involved in such a great occasion is a reward for Celtic reaching the group stages of Europe’s elite club competition for the first time in three years and will be savoured regardless of whether they win, lose or draw against vastly superior side with far greater resources.
Messi, for one, will be gutted if he isn’t involved. “I’ve been very fortunate to play in some great stadiums in Europe with Barcelona but none compare to Celtic,” he once said. “Their fans make it a very special night of European football.”
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