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John Kennedy relishes Barcelona return

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Image for John Kennedy relishes Barcelona return

Next Gen Celtic NewsA look at Neil Lennon’s substitute bench against Dunfermline tonight confirms the benefit of the Next Gen Series to Celtic.

John Kennedy’s youth team squad fly out to Barcelona today leaving behind some of the key players that made such an impact in the back-to-back wins against Manchester City.

Those two wins have given Celtic hope of qualifying for the knock-out stage of the competition with Kennedy delighted to see the first batch of his players graduate into Neil Lennon’s plans.

“Seeing players away with the first team shows that we’re working in the right direction and I’m already looking to the next group of boys to step in,” Kennedy explained.

“The younger players have been brought in and did a great job so we’re expecting the same from them on Thursday night against Barcelona.

“This game was always going to be a big test, even if we had the guys that have moved into the first team, but other players now have an opportunity and they know where that can lead to.

“We have a good squad of players and a few of them haven’t played as much as they’d have liked, now they have the chance to show what they can do at a high level.

“The match is about our full squad, we’ll travel with 18 players and everyone is part of it, it’s more than just about the 11 on the pitch. The other seven will be involved and have a big part to play.

“We’ll have a close look at the players in training then myself, Tam (McIntyre) and Stevie (Frail) will get down to naming a team.”

While Celtic go into action in Barcelona Manchester City will host Marseilles hoping to take their first points in the competition.

Celtic currently trail the French side by three points and must match their result tomorrow night to make the final group match- Celtic v Marseilles- meaningful.

Kennedy knows better than most the impact of putting in a big performance against Barcelona and is looking forward to watching his players match up to the famous Catalans.

He added: “We play our own style of football, an attacking pressing game, and that’s how we’ll approach the game in Barcelona.

“Our players are geared to getting the ball down and knocking it around. That’s the way that they like to play. They are all good players and don’t have anything to prove to anyone.

“We’re looking forward to the match, looking forward to facing Barcelona and confident that our players can go out and do themselves justice.”

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0 comments

  • Alan in Thailand says:

    Any idea if the Nextgen game vs. Barca will be shown live anywhere?

    I’ve been keeping tabs on this excellent tournament and would love to watch this game if it’s being shown.

    Hail hail from Thailand…

  • Joe McHugh says:

    The game is being shown live on channel 67.

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