Celtic youths

Toshney relishing Barcelona test

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Lewis Toshney Celtic newsLewis Toshney can’t wait to give Barcelona a warm welcome to Celtic Park.

The hoops mad defender has been in the stands for Barca’s three recent games against Celtic and never misses an opportunity to watch Pep Guardiola’s all stars on television.

It was business as usual for Barca on Monday night as they demolished Vilareal 5-0 with the next generation of Barcelona stars set to face Celtic tonight.

Barca’s success is based on bringing through their own players from the academy with Toshney in no doubt about the quality of player that the young Celts will be up against.

“I’ve seen Barcelona here a few times as a fan and watch them on telly as much as I can,” the Celtic skipper admitted. “They keep the ball for fun and I’d expect their youth team to play exactly the same way but we have to stick to our own game.

“You can’t stand off them because they’ll punish you but you can’t afford to dive in either. I expect that they’ll have great runners coming from midfield and we’ll have to be aware of that. We’ll need to be on our toes and communicate all through the game.

“They have brought Xavi, Iniesta and the rest through from the youth ranks. They are taught at a young age to keep the ball and keep it moving.

“Their first team are the best side in the world by a mile, their philosophy is to go out and win every single game, I watched them beat Vilareal 5-0 and this match will be a great occasion for all of us.”

Toshney moved up to the development squad at the start of the season but will be used as an overage player tonight before joining up with the Scotland u-21 squad.

There’s a long queue of central defenders ahead of him for a first team place but he’s hoping that working alongside John Kennedy can push him closer to making the big breakthrough.

“John has been brilliant with me,” Toshney added. “At the end of each training session he’ll tell me things about my positioning, against Marseilles he was shouting us through the match and is a great help for defenders.

“I saw John play a few times and remember him playing against Barcelona and that’s what we all have to aim for.

“Last season I was playing on the Sunday in the SFA Youth Cup, got substituted after 60 minutes and got told that I was going to Aberdeen with the first team. Next thing I knew I was making my debut at Pittodrie- the best night of my life.

“I’ve been training with the first team this season and hopefully I can pass on some of that experience to the younger players.

“There’s a lot of talent in our squad, Paul George scored for the development team at Blackpool last week and everyone can’t wait to get out there against Barcelona.”

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