It was a sombre and subdued Celtic squad that left Barcelona’s Miniestadi on Thursday night.
Losing 5-1 is always painful and even if their opponents wore the famous red and blue of FC Barcelona the result was still difficult to take.
Leading up to the match there was a quiet confidence amongst the players and coaches that they could improve on the 3-1 defeat inflicted by Barca at Celtic Park.
Back-to-back wins over Manchester City provided a better guide to Celtic’s strength than domestic form and while the Premiership club aren’t in the same bracket as Barcelona there was evidence to suggest that Celtic would be able to take the game to their hosts.
Within five minutes of the kick-off the best laid plans were left in tatters as Barcelona opened up a two goal lead.
Celtic’s five man midfield were never able to impose themselves in the game, Tony Watt was isolated and frustrated in attack while the back four and Robbie Thomson were fire-fighting at the back.
As good as Barcelona are it was impossible to get over the dejection that Celtic hadn’t did themselves justice on the night.
The Next Gen Series is designed to expose players to the standards of their European peers with the dejected young Celtic squad left with much to contemplate as a dream fixture turned into something of a nightmare.
“We are all gutted, as staff and players we are gutted,” John Kennedy admitted after a longer than usual talk with the players in the dressing room. “We can’t let this effect us negatively, we have to use it as motivation to bounce back, players shouldn’t want to sit in a dressing room like that ever again, they should keep that feeling tucked away.
“If you feel like that too many times there’s something wrong. We don’t want to be in this position again, if you lose it has to be to the better team but we just didn’t show up. When we play as we can we are a good side but we were well short of that.
“The players didn’t say too much (afterwards), they have to listen to what the coaching staff are telling them and try to take it on board, we’re there to develop them and try to take them to the next level. Not much has been taken from tonight other than we have work to do.”
Kennedy added: “We lost two early goals, that knocked the confidence out of us and all of a sudden we were giving the ball away. They (Barcelona) are keeping the ball for periods and we are chasing things.
“Barcelona are a good side but we should have done so much better on the night but never showed up.”
Tomorrow Celtic face Hearts at Barrowfield in the SPL, kick off 1pm
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Alan, effectively we do have a youtube channel – it’s called celtic tv and they charge for it!!
Celtic won’t give you anything for nothing
Good article Joe.
I managed to watch the game live on Barca’s Youtube channel (perfect, clear, legal stream that didn’t stick once! why don’t we have a Youtube channel?)
Anyway, i was amazed at the gap between the sides, even if it was to be expected i suppose.
The one big positive the boys should get from this is that5 it’ll surely help keep their feet on the ground, so to speak.
I’m sure all the boys, right through the youth ranks, are aware of their own “elite” status within the Scottish game, and at that age it must be so easy to puff the chest out and think “i’ve made it”.
Obviously the coaching staff will try to convince them otherwise, but if you’re a teenager playing for Celtic, you’re going to be a superstar in the eyes of your friends, school mates, family, etc.
A defeat like that the other night must surely open the boy’s eyes to how far there is to go to make it in the game.
Without these Nextgen games they could well have gone through the youth ranks knowing only the feeling of beating 90% of the local opposition, much the same way the senior team does, until they step up to European level.
If i were on the coaching staff, i’d have the boys watch a re-run of this game once a month.
It could be the making of them.
HH from Thailand…
The Celtic kids have no reason to hang their heads, they played hard and more often than not that’s the hardest thing to see translated to the pitch…There’s a gap in quality but no gap in effort or spirit
I watched the match live, caught the one at Celtic Park as well…Barça simply benefit from a fantastic academy whereby a philosophy has been implemented over decades – every level at the club plays the same way
Plus, there are a few bonafide stars in that team – Grimaldo, Dongou & Samper just to name a few
I left impressed with the Celtic youth, though – no shame to lose, even in that manner