Uefa Champions League: Barcelona 1-0 Celtic

Celtic dreams just that as Barcelona progress

Comfortably outclassed, Celtic eventually ended this game with some credit due to spirited defending, and a gritty show of resilience. The margin of defeat was kept to a single goal by some stioc defending and exceptional goalkeeping from Artur Boruc, who recovered from his all to obvious nervous start.

Barcelona's manager Frank Rijkaard, had decided to leave out some of the players who started the first match and this suggested he presumed victory. This could have been interpreted as an insult to Celtic, however it would take just two minutes to vindicate his decision and effectively kill the tie.

Seemingly intent on erasing Saturday's 4-1 defeat by Atletico Madrid, Barcelona started at a whirlwind tempo and it was clear Celtic would again would struggle to cope with the swift movement, and passing of Barcelona. Deco and Ronaldinho both went close with great efforts, but Barcelona just couldn't get the goals they threatened.

After the scary opening for Celtic, in which they survived at keeping the score to 1-0, the game played out in a similar though less intense manner, with Celtic spending their time keeping Barcelona at bay and eventually achieving for them a creditable showing against one of Europes top sides.