Lennon excited by Barcelona draw

Neil Lennon was delighted to find Celtic drawn with Barcelona in the Champions League.

Spartak Moscow, including Aiden McGeady, and Benfica make up Group G but it’s the return of Lionel Messi that will light up the autumn for the hoops support.

“It was very exciting to be involved in the draw,” Lennon admitted. “To be in the group with Barcelona is tough but it’s a real glamour game for the club and the other two sides are huge clubs in their respective countries.”

“We’ve played against all three teams recently, we met Barcelona and Benfica in the Champions League and knocked out Spartak Moscow in a play-off.

“It’s a tough tough group but I think that all the teams play good football so it should be attractive to watch. I’ll take it as it comes, see how the fixtures come out but it’s fantastic to be here and we’re going to make the most of it.”

It’ll be the fourth time that Celtic have played Barcelona in the last ten years with Celtic winning once, drawing two matches and losing three times.

The most recent meeting between the two clubs was in the 2007/08 season with Barcelona winning 3-2 at Celtic Park then beating Celtic 1-0 in the Nou Camp.

Earlier that season Celtic exchanged 1-0 wins with Benfica before going through on matchday 6 alongwith AC Milan having picked up nine points.

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To reach the group stage Celtic had to beat Spartak Moscow in a qualifier with the hoops winning on penalties after two 1-1 draws with the Celtic goals coming from Paul Hartley in Moscow and Scott McDonald at Celtic Park.