Celtic vs Barcelona Group C –  Time/date 23/11/2016 19:45 UK


Predict: Celtic 1-2 Barcelona  over 2.5 goal

Two months after suffering their heaviest-ever European defeat at the Camp Nou, Celtic FC will be determined to show a different face to FC Barcelona when the teams meet again on matchday five.

• Barcelona’s 7-0 win on matchday one was not just a record defeat for the Glasgow club but also the biggest victory the Blaugrana have achieved in over 50 years of European Cup/UEFA Champions League football.

• Entering this return fixture, Barcelona will be full of motivation as they look to bounce back from defeat at Manchester City FC and cement qualification for the last 16. They will progress with a victory or with any result if VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach fail to beat City in other Group C fixture.

• To maintain their faint hopes of European football after Christmas, Celtic need a victory after two draws and two defeats so far.

Previous meetings
• Barcelona beat Celtic 3-1 in a pre-season friendly in Dublin on 30 July this year. Although Leigh Griffiths cancelled out Arda Turan’s opening effort, Efe Ambrose’s own goal and a Munir El Haddadi strike secured the Azulgrana’s victory.

• The starting XIs were:
Celtic: Gordon, Janko, Ambrose, O’Connell, Izaguirre, Brown, Bitton, McGregor, Roberts, Griffiths, Forrest.
Barcelona: Masip, Vidal, Camara, Mathieu, Roberto, Martinez, D Suárez, Arda Turan, L Suárez, Munir, Messi.


• Barcelona overcame Neil Lennon’s Celtic home and away in the 2013/14 group stage. A Cesc Fàbregas goal after 76 minutes was the difference between the sides in Glasgow on a night when Celtic lost Scott Brown to a red card.

• The line-ups on 1 October 2013 were:
Celtic: Forster, Lustig (Forrest 70), Ambrose, Van Dijk, Izaguirre, Mathews, Brown, Mulgrew, Commons (Pukki 87), Stokes (Kayal 70), Samaras.
Barcelona: Valdés, Alves, Bartra, Piqué, Adriano, Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta (Song 89), Pedro (Sánchez 74), Fàbregas (Tello 78), Neymar.

• Gerardo Martino’s side were more emphatic winners back in Barcelona, their 6-1 victory headlined by Neymar’s first Barça hat-trick. It was then Celtic’s joint-heaviest European defeat.


• Barcelona have won six of the teams’ last seven meetings, the exception being Celtic’s 2-1 home win in 2012/13 when Victor Wanyama and Tony Watt got their goals.

• The clubs’ overall head-to-head record from 11 past meetings is seven wins for Barcelona, two for Celtic and two draws.

Match background

Celtic
• Celtic lost their last home game against Gladbach (0-2) but can take heart from a 1-1 draw against the same opponents in Germany last time out.

• Although they won three home matches in qualifying, Celtic have not won any of their last six home group fixtures in the UEFA Champions League/UEFA Europa League (D2 L4).

• Celtic’s overall home record against Spanish clubs is W7 D2 L5.

Barcelona
• Luis Enrique’s side are looking to clinch their 13th successive participation in the UEFA Champions League knockout phase.

• Their matchday four defeat in Manchester was their first reverse in a UEFA Champions League group game since losing 3-2 at Paris Saint-Germain in September 2014.

• Barcelona’s away record against Scottish sides is W3 D1 L3.

Coach and player links
• Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers worked with Luis Suárez at Liverpool FC between 2012 and 2014, the Uruguayan scoring 31 goals in 2013/14.

• Rodgers’ Liverpool suffered home (0-3) and away (0-1) defeats by Real Madrid CF in the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Kolo Touré was in the Arsenal FC side beaten 2-1 by Barcelona in the 2006 UEFA Champions League final, coming up against Andrés Iniesta.

• With AFC Ajax, Jasper Cillesen faced Celtic in the group stage of both the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League and the 2015/16 UEFA Europa League, losing just one of those four games.

• Gerard Piqué scored an own goal at Glasgow’s Hampden Park in Spain’s 3-2 win over Scotland in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier in October 2010.

• Jordi Alba played against James Forrest when making his Spain debut in a 3-1 victory against Scotland in the return fixture in Alicante in 2011.

• Celtic coach John Kennedy played in the Hoops’ 0-0 draw at the Camp Nou in March 2004 which secured his club a 1-0 aggregate victory over Barcelona in the 2003/04 UEFA Cup first round.

Players who have played together:
• Suárez & Touré (Liverpool, 2013/14)

Match facts

Celtic
• Celtic’s four defeats this season have all been in the UEFA Champions League. The Hoops are on a 15-game unbeaten run in domestic competition.

• The Scottish champions have kept six successive clean sheets in league matches and have not conceded in 598 minutes.

• Dedryck Boyata made his first start since April in Friday’s 1-0 win at Kilmarnock FC. Leigh Griffiths missed out with a tight hamstring.

• Celtic will play Aberdeen FC in the Scottish League Cup final on 27 November.

• Moussa Dembélé scored twice for France Under-21s in a 3-2 friendly victory over England on 14 November.

• Emilio Izaguirre was on target for Honduras in their 3-1 FIFA World Cup qualifying win against Trinidad and Tobago on 15 November.

Barcelona
• Neymar and Ivan Rakitić are both a booking away from a ban.

• Messi has scored 18 goals in 17 appearances for club and country this term. However, he missed Saturday’s goalless draw with Málaga CF, who ended the game with nine men, due to illness.

• That was the Azulgrana’s first stalemate since 2 January.

• Messi scored one and set up the other two in Argentina’s 3-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying victory over Colombia on 15 November.

• Neymar’s goal in Brazil’s 3-0 defeat of Argentina five days earlier was his 50th for his country.

• Marc-André ter Stegen made his first competitive appearance for Germany in the world champions’ 8-0 triumph over San Marino on 11 November.

• Messi, Neymar, Suárez and Iniesta – who partially injured the lateral ligament in his right knee during the 3-2 success at Valencia CF on 22 October – are on the 23-man shortlist for the Best FIFA Men’s Player 2016 award. The winner will be announced on 9 January.