Celtic draw Barcelona, Benfica and Spartak Moscow

Celtic have been drawn with Barcelona, Benfica and Spartak Moscow in Group G of the Champions League

It’ll be a case of deja vu for the Celtic support having played all three sides in the last five years with Aiden McGeady making an emotional return to the ground where he launched his career.

It’s the fourth time in ten years that Celtic have been paired with Barcelona with the Catalans getting the better of the two Champions League ties between the sides after Martin O’Neill’s side knocked Barca out of the 2004 UEFA Cup.

Celtic were drawn against Benfica in the 2006 and 2007 Champions League winning at home 3-0 and 1-0 and losing in Lisbon by the same scores.

In 2007 Celtic beat Spartak Moscow on penalties to reach the group stage after drawing both legs 1-1 with Paul Hartley and Scott McDonald scoring for Celtic.

The draw was made in Monaco today ahead of tomorrow’s Super Cup Final between Chelsea and Atletico Madrid.

Celtic were in the draw for the first time in four years following their 4-0 aggregate win over Helsingborgs.

Denis Law, Steve McManaman, Ruud Gullit and helped out with the draw in front of a worldwide audience.

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Neil Lennon has just over 24 hours left to strengthen his squad with the hoops boss pushing ahead with his plans as soon as qualification was confirmed.

He said: “We will have a couple lined up and hopefully we can get the medicals done, I don’t know how many, my mind has been occupied (by the game).

“There could be bundles coming in, all wanting to jump on the bandwagon but first and foremost my priority is to the players already here.

“I want to speak to Peter about rewarding some of them, maybe with new contracts. I think they have thoroughly deserved them.

“Some have played way beyond the expectation of them when we brought them in and we want to reward them. They have been very good for me so I want to be good for them.”