Jackson Irvine had a very special fan watching last night’s clash with Barcelona- his dad Stephen who had flown in from Melbourne to watch his bhoy in action!
Celtic’s u-19 gave a great account of themselves before going down 3-1 to the next generation of Nou Camp wizards with Irvine in the thick of the action.
The midfielder made the long journey from Melbourne last year and got the fright of his life at the weekend when he found that his dad had dropped in on a surprise visit.
“My dad is from Aberdeen and I didn’t know that he was at our match on Saturday (at Aberdeen),” Jackson smiled.
“I came out of the dressing room at half time and saw him on the sideline. I was shocked, absolutely shocked! He flew over to surprise me for the Barcelona game and it’s great having him here for a week.
“He’ll be at the game with Dundee United on Saturday, my parents have supported me all the way and I’m glad my dad was able to see me playing in the biggest game of my career so far.
“He used to play in the same team as Scott McDonald’s dad and I loved watching Scott when he was at Celtic.
“He had a hard time getting in the national team but came to Celtic and scored in the Champions League against AC Milan and Manchester United.
“These matches are our equivalent of the Champions League, we’ve had two great games so far and now we’ve got to focus on the league before thinking about the matches with Manchester City.”
After Campabadal Claros opened the scoring for Barcelona Celtic enjoyed their best spell of the match with Tony Watt scoring a great solo goal to level the scores.
Barca hit back with goals either side of half time from Patricio Gabarron and Jean-Marie Dongou that deflated the homeside with Irvine experiencing a mixture of pride and frustration over the 90 minutes.
He added: “It was mainly a good experience, my first start at Celtic Park, a good crowd and fantastic opposition but I felt that we were a bit hard done by.
“We conceded two scrappy goals and one from a set-piece that we should clear. Overall I really enjoyed the experience and we’re looking forward to the remaining games in this competition.
“The third goal was a kick in the teeth, we tried to get back in the game but they flood the midfield and that’s hard to counter. Our full-backs weren’t sure whether to come in or the strikers to drop back, sometimes me and Filip Twardzik were working in a two against five situation in the middle of the park.
“Obviously it’s difficult but I felt that overall we dealt with it really well. We had some great play going forward, Paul George and Rhys Williamson had a few strikes at goal and I had a header that went straight up in the air.
“Before the match we had a laugh about facing a team of little Messi’s and Iniesta’s but they are 18-year-old kids the same as us, I knew going into the game that technically we had some very gifted players like Paul Geirge who can produce magic in the final third.
“We all knew that we could play with them, after five minutes it hit everyone that ‘wow we’re really in this, we can go on and win this game’. I didn’t think that we deserved to be on the end of a 3-1 defeat.”
CELTC (4-4-1-1) Feely; Fraser, Toshney, Jones, Chalmers; Herron (Gormley 88) Irvine, F. Twardzik, Williamson (Alabi 83); George; Watt (Atajic 71)
Not Used: Thomson, Fisher, Miller, McNally
BARCELONA (4-3-3) Anton; Campabadal Claros, Ayala, Bagnack, Olivan; Samper, Gabarron, Calvet (Quintilla 63); Cornejo, Dongou (Moreno 90) Sainz-Maza (Herrera 71)
Not Used: Julio, Tienda, Bakoyock, Quesada, Moreno
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Actually, they were a full 18 months younger than you lot…and were missing 4 key players who were with the B side in Deulofeu, Espinosa, Grimaldo & Rafinha
Celtic impressed though, Hoops fans have a lot to be encouraged by
brilliant report Joe – delighted for Jackson – so important for young people to have 100% backing of their parents – helps boost confidence and self-esteem – this shines through in Jackson’s frequent and beaming smile – team did very well – lots of things to work on but even moreso, lots of things to be proud of and take forward
FCBarca
fair enough, big man
however, coming from a nation of population 10 times that of Scotland and having a team on global TV every year to audiences of 2 and 3 billion does, as you know, generate more awareness of the likes of Barcelona – our team on the other hand are doing ok, all things considered.
finally, for the record, i thought Marcus Fraser was our best player with Tony a close 2nd. Marcus played Jean Marie Dongou very well, overall
well done Celtic – keep the head up !
As I said, Celtic impressed…Just pointing out it was an undermanned & younger side that faced them from Barcelona
Barcelona had 6 players who can play at this level again next year (Without overage players) while Celtic started with 4
No idea where our FCBarca friend is getting his 18 months younger from. Number 11 who was one of their best players on the night was the oldest player on the park apart from Nick Feely.
Espinosa who was listed as being a KEY player missing would be one of the overage players allowed (Just like Celtic were missing Greg Spence loaned out to Hamilton). Not sure why Barcelona ‘B’ squad would need players – they have 25 listed(13 in the 22-27 years old & 11 (19-21 year olds).
Only by playing / competing at this level will Celtic players progress properly.
Easy enough to check the ages, it’s on the NextGen website…18 months younger…Not slating Celtic, merely pointing out they were playing kids much younger
Espinosa is 18, btw…Last I checked, it was U-19
A year ago Joe Chalmers and Paul George scored the goals that beat Rangers 2-1 in a Glasgow Cup tie.
They were comfortable against Barcelona last night.
That’s development.
Espinosa is listed on the official Barcelona website as 19/8/92…this tourney is predominantly for players born in 93 with 3 overage players (Under 20) allowed.
Sorry Espinosa was born 19/9/92…typo
Cheers…I rather enjoyed it and left with a favorable impression of Celtic’s youth side…Beautiful stadium
Celtic did well to compete, Tony Watt took his goal well, but competing isn’t beating, and I suspect if they played another 20 times, Barca would win 20 times.!! The gap starts to grow from here on..
The biggest challenge is the jump from 19’s to first team. With no competitive reserve league it’s difficult.
When SPL team voted a scrap a reserve league as they couldnt afford to send out teams, it tells you everything about the state of the game.
We’ve performed with the best at these tournaments for years. It’s what goes wrong between 18-21years old that is the big mystery…….
I would’nt say the gap ALWAYS grows from 19s onwards. A few years back I attended a tourney in Holland which featured Celtic, Barcelona, Ajax, Feyenoord, Aston Villa etc….Celtic fielded mainly a 17s side in a 19s tourney held their own with the above but Cruizeiro & Corinithians were a class above everyone else. Celtic had O’Dea, Grant etc while Barca had an excellent central defender who would appear to have been released at some point.
Most definitely some countries are more adept at bridging the gap from 19s – first team. Maybe through giving the younger players more opportunities or as in Spain fielding a reserve side in the lower divisions. It’s all very well loaning kids out to lower Scottish / English sides but I feel they would improve quicker if placed abroad Holland / Denmark / France / Portugal etc…easier said than done obviously.
Was lovely reading about Jackson Irvine and his dad coming from so far to watch him play. Kudos to Steve and Jackson. We miss you in australia. Well done Celtic under 19’s. You played a great game.