Celtic face a difficult task in their latest Champions League game against Catalan giants, Barcelona. In my opinion Barcelona are the best team in the world and have, arguably, three of the best five footballers in the world playing for them. Messi, Xavi and Iniesta are fantastic footballers in their own right, together they are simply frightening.
Barcelona are in great form and have won ten of their twelve games in all competitions this year. Their only slip ups have came in a league draw and a Spanish Super Cup defeat to Real Madrid. They have scored thirty-three goals in those twelve games but perhaps the most encouraging stat, for Celtic, is they have conceded seventeen goals and kept just three clean sheets. In their first twelve games last season, Barcelona conceded ten goals and kept seven clean sheets. They have had a few injuries in defence this season but there is definitely room for improvement.
Things are looking good for Celtic too. They are top of the league, have safely negotiated the early rounds of the League Cup and have four points from two Champions League group stage games. Perhaps the best part of this season for Celtic was the win in Moscow, to finally pick up the clubs first away win in the Champions League group stage. Finally, we can watch the games and not constantly hear about the number of games it’s been without an away win for Celtic.
Celtic’s resurgence has to be credited to Neil Lennon and his staff. This time last year things were looking very bad for Celtic but it all turned round that day at Kilmarnock and Celtic are now reaping the rewards.
When Lennon came to Celtic, he started a process that I call the “Lyonification of Celtic.” He has made the most of the clubs resources and is using the scouting network to the maximum of its potential. Celtic are now picking up young talent from all over the world and developing that talent. The first team squad is full of players who Celtic could sell for millions more than they paid. Fraser Forster, Adam Matthews, Emilio Izaguirre, Efe Ambrose, Kelvin Wilson, Joe Ledley, Charlie Mulgrew, Beram Kayal, Victor Wanyama and Gary Hooper cost Celtic less than £10 million. Add to that youth players coming through like, Tony Watt, Dylan McGeouch, James Forrest and the Twardzik twins and the future looks bright at Celtic Park.
The key to the Lyonification or Lyon model is to sell one or two of those players each summer for a profit and reinvest the money in more young talent. This worked for Lyon and led them to the latter stages of the Champions League. Celtic has no option but to try to emulate this model as they do not have the financial muscle that so many of their Champions League rivals have. The SPL doesn't have the television contracts that other leagues have and that was the case long before Celtic's former rivals, Rangers went bust.
Celtic are using a very wise business model and the product on the field is not suffering. If anything I'd say the current squad is the best I've saw in my years as a Celtic fan. Martin O'Neill's side that reached the UEFA Cup Final is the best Celtic team I've saw but they suffered a little as they didn't have the depth to compete on two fronts. O'Neill's team had a core of about fourteen or fifteen players and struggled with injuries. This current squad has just under twenty international footballers in it and for an SPL club, that is phenomenal. Celtic now have at least two players who are capable of playing every position and it wouldn't hurt the team. I've never seen it before and probably won't see it again.
Onto tonight's game and in my opinion, away to Barcelona is the hardest fixture in football. In Barcelona's starting eleven, you could make a case that at least half a dozen of them are the best player, in their position, in the world. To play against such a quality side, in front of potentially 100,000 fans is a daunting task for any team. When you consider how young the Celtic players are, it almost becomes mission impossible.
I think Celtic will have to play in a certain tactical style to have any chance of beating Barcelona. If I was Neil Lennon I'd instruct the players to play the game in as narrow a space as possible. The full-backs should be staying within the width of the 18 yard box. Barcelona are at their best when passing the ball around the edge of the box. The more compact Celtic can be, the less gaps Barcelona can expose. If Barcelona get the ball out wide and try to cross it into the box, I am confident that Ambrose, Wilson or Mulgrew will win any aerial battles that may occur. If Barcelona get the ball in the wings they would be more likely to try to play passes to the edge of the box and a narrow defence will make it harder to find those passes.
The formation I would play is a narrow 4-4-1-1. Depending on injuries, I would play Forster in nets, Matthews, Ambrose, Wilson and Izaguirre in defence. In midfield I would play Brown on the right, Mulgrew on the left and Wanyama and Ledley in the middle. I would have Samaras just ahead of them but when defending, I would have him dropping into the midfield. Samaras is the out ball and he would have no problems carrying the ball thirty or forty yards up the field. Finally, I would have Gary Hooper in attack. He done a good job in Moscow and if Celtic do create a chance, he's the one man I'd like it to fall to.
Realistically, this is a mammoth task for Celtic and if they played this game 200 times, Barca would win 195. As Celtic fans we can only hope and pray that tonight is one of the other five.
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