Neil Lennon flew out to watch Barcelona play Deportivo la Crouna delighted by his own side’s 5-0 win over St Mirren.
With his squad scattered far and wide on international duty Lennon only had one full training session to prepare his side for the visit to Paisley.
Kris Commons, Georgios Samaras, James Forrest and Scott Brown were all absent but that didn’t prevent some of the ‘back-up’ bhoys from impressing.
Lassad Nouioui and Tony Watt joined Gary Hooper in a three man attack with Lennon delighted by the contribution of 18-year-old Watt.
“I thought that Tony Watt was fantastic,” the Celtic boss admitted. “He was hungry, he’s a wee bit raw but he has so many good attributes that he is a defenders nightmare.
“He just wants to keep running at them, wearing them down. I was delighted that he got his goal, he was running out of puff at the end but overall I was thrilled by his performance.”
Gary Hooper opened the scoring with his eighth goal in six matches with Lennon thrilled by the progress of his first choice striker.
The Celtic boss added: “For his age he has so many attributes going for him, he’s probably playing at his peek. Not only does he score goals his all-round play is of a very high quality. I’m starting to run out of things to say about him.”
Lassad Nouioui is Celtic’s major injury worry for the trip to Barcelona with Brown, Forrest, Commons and Samaras expected to make the trip.
CLICK HERE for Rangers Tax Case verdict made
Follow Video Celts on Twitter and Facebook
Watt was unbelievable, in amongst everything. Gonna have a big future for us.