MESSI RETURNS

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi will be making their return to Celtic Park in the group stages of the Champions league this season after the Spanish giants were drawn in the same group along with Celtic.

This is an extremely tough group for Celtic since they will also have to play against AC Milan and Ajax. Between AC Milan and Barcelona alone, there are 12 Champions league titles and they are formidable opposition to say the least. Despite this, Celtic can draw confidence from the recent performance against Barcelona when they managed to stun the Spanish giants at home.

The 2-1 victory for Celtic last season is an unforgettable result, as they also managed to progress into the last 16 stage of the competition. Immediately after the draw, Celtic manager Neil Lennon accepted that this was going to be a monumental task because of the presence of Milan and Ajax in the same group. It might be worth an online bet!

However, he is happy just to be in the group stages of the competition, which will be hugely beneficial for the club in terms of finances and prestige. Celtic have sold a lot of players in the summer, while they also only scraped through into the group stages courtesy of a nailbiting play-off victory.

“I’m very excited to play at Celtic again in the group stages. Of course the last time we played in Scotland it was not a good result for us, but next time we will be looking to win. It’s the most competitive group and we know we can’t take nothing for granted. I’ve been fortunate to play in some great stadiums in Europe with Barcelona but none compare to Celtic. The atmosphere their fans create make it a very special European night of football,” said Messi to Sky Sports after the draw was made.