French ref appointed for Celtic v Barcelona
The 44-year-old has been a top flight referee since 2002 and took charge of two group matches at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Lannoy has never refereed a Celtic or Scotland match but was in charge of Barcelona’s 2-0 home win over Copenhagen in 2010. Already this season he has refereed Schalke’s 1-1 home draw against PAOK, during the summer he refereed at the u-20 World Cup in Turkey.
Barcelona fly into Glasgow today determnied to wipe out the memory of last season’s 2-1 defeat to Neil Lennon’s side.
While the loss of Lionel Messi is a big blow to the Catalans not many clubs can call upon a ‘replacement’ like Neymar!
Lennon has followed Barcelona closely and is looking forward to locking horns again with one of the best sides in the business.
“We’ll be in front of our own fans and that will be good for my players,” the Celtic boss stated. “Barca have international players who have played at every level all over the world.
“They have been in hostile environments so having 60,000 people shouting at them will not affect them. But I hope it will inspire our team to go out and do it again.
“We can get something. Scott Brown is playing very well just now, as is Virgil van Dijk and Efe Ambrose. Adam Matthews has had a great start to the season too.
“I was pleased with the performance in Milan. They were not fazed at all. But Barca are a different animal, home or away.
“They are the class team in this group by a considerable margin. I will try and be compact again. I have a little bit more legs in the team than I did last year.
“I have lost Wanyama and Hooper but with Van Dijk and Brown being fit this time – and I hope James Forrest will be back – that will give us something extra in terms of pace in wide areas.”