Celtic’s spectacular win over Barcelona has given their Champions League hopes a double boost.
As well as taking the hoops onto seven points from four matches the defeat forces Barcelona into taking their strongest side to face Spartak Moscow later this month.
In simple terms a score draw for Celtic away to Benfica coupled with a Barcelona win in Moscow takes Neil Lennon’s side through to the last 16 but there are a number of other permutations to Group G that could see Celtic finish in fourth place.
For that to happen Celtic and Barcelona need to lose both of their remaining matches which would see Benfica finish on 10 points and Spartak with 9.
A more likely scenario is that if Barcelona win away to Spartak Moscow Celtic are guaranteed a Europa League place leaving the hoops to scrap it out with Benfica for second place.
Crucially the Spartak Moscow v Barcelona match will be finished before Celtic kick-off away to Benfica.
“What it means (Celtic’s win) is that Barcelona still have to get something from their next two games,” Lennon explained. “And that benefits us.
“They still need a point or even three out of their remaining two games, which is great because if they’d won they could have chopped and changed their side.
“Now they have to still get something from those matches and that gives us a foothold to get something in Lisbon or to take it to the last game against Spartak.”
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To make sure the victory against Baecelona really means something in terms of qualification, we need to either win in Lisbon or back at Parkhead.
So no resting on our laurels, no slacking off. Let’s aim for the quarters or semis.
Lets not get carried away. Great result against barca but wee should concentrate on 1 game at a time. We fear no one next up benfica. Having a party in the champions league. HH