Now and the future

[Ibrox Street Boy 0]

Am I the only one that finds Barca's (and Spain for that matter) current brand of football slightly boring to watch? As much as i admire their tipy tapy style I do find it a bit tedious. How many crosses or shots did they have last night? Sometimes it's passing for passings sakes for me. Give me a team like AC Milan (circa late 80's-early 90's) anyday. Power' date=' skill and pace all rolled into one[/quote']

 

I agree, while it looked good and they were all over cellic they had no idea how to change things, a good team can vary things and barca didn't do that, as you say they kept trying to pass the ball through the defence and well done to cellic they coped well but while the passing game can be admired it can be boring with no end result

[Guest Bluepeter9]

Its football results like last night happen - it doesn't make Barca a bad team, nor Celtic a good team. But to be honest Celtic are playing better in Europe this year because they have dropped the 'have a go' atttitude and have parked the bus, and got the luck. However Celutic have been mediocre in the SPHell this year so far and are raising their game on CL nights and who can blame them.

 

Hoevever it is far to early for us to be worrying about how we will cope - by the time we get back we will be like Ajax with our young team coming through!

[Calgacus 8]

This may sound like heresy, but I was bored rigid watching Barcalona's final v Manchester United a couple of years ago.

[kuznetsov 0]

stopped reading here. "They beat perhaps the best team any of us will ever see. " what a load of rubbish.

 

valdes is a liability.

alves on last legs and just back from long term injury.

left back in first season at barca.

mascherano is a dwarf and a midfielder playing centre back.

bartra is an embarassment

song is not barcelona class

sanchez isnt barcelona class either

 

xavi and iniesta had an off day and messi couldnt be bothered.

 

they are not even the best team in spain, they are not the best team in europe and that barcelona team celtic beat are nowhere near the best team we have ever seen.

 

in saying that, we cant even give malmo, kaunas, unirea or maribor a game, even at their poorest barcelona are still out of our league.

 

lennon is progressing well unlike ally and is proving to have a very good backroom team around him. their defensive coach is a miracle worker!

Edited November 8, 2012 by kuznetsov

[kuznetsov 0]

The Barca team we played in 2007 was better...and we could have nicked the win that night.

The team was Valdes, Thuram, Puyol, Milito, Abidal, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Iniesta, Ronaldinho, Henry, Messi.

Sometimes you get the breaks.

 

100% correct

[54andcounting 0]

Barca wont win the CL this year, just like last year. Opposition teams in Europe know how to play them now.

 

Christ!! Even Lemmon's got them sussed.

[foggy dewhurst 0]

until we at ibrox get on a sound financial footing we are going to be behind for the time being the country is in the worst financial crisis ever investment in football clubs is not the main thing to make money but we as a club must invest in good players and coaching and scouting to prepare the club for our return to the top division .

[kuznetsov 0]

until we at ibrox get on a sound financial footing we are going to be behind for the time being the country is in the worst financial crisis ever investment in football clubs is not the main thing to make money but we as a club must invest in good players and coaching and scouting to prepare the club for our return to the top division .

 

we could do with our very own wanyama, matthews, k wilson etc etc. our scouting has to improve dramatically. i do have to wonder what our scouts were doing when celtic were speaking to these players agents, i mean, we were the champions at the time, the big team, in the champions league yet they seem to have signed tens of millions worth of talent for next to nothing.

[Guest RFC_1872]

Aye, i have always said i don't like Barca because of the way they tip tap the ball about. I also think the Spanish league isn't up to much either.

 

I also hate when Barca don't get their own way, their players feel the need to come out and say "your not playing football" pish.

[chilledbear 16]

Worth a read.

 

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/1547?cc=5739

 

 

Celtic's 2-1 upset win over Barcelona on Wednesday prompted some to describe it as the "second greatest night in the history of the club" after -- presumably -- that night in 1967 when 11 men born within a few miles of Parkhead went out and became champions of Europe.

 

That generated some interesting discussion, as you would expect from a club that celebrated its 125th anniversary on Tuesday. Does beating Barcelona in a group stage match make it a "greater night" than, say, winning nine league titles in a row? Or that epic night in 1970 when Celtic overcame mighty Leeds United in front of a reported 136,505 people?

 

I threw it out there on Twitter and got a range of responses, the vast majority of them thoughtful.

 

Some argued that this was a one-off and isn't so remarkable because upsets happen with a certain regularity (heck, Belarus' BATE Borisov beat mighty Bayern Munich a few weeks ago, and we all know how far Cyprus' APOEL Nicosia got last season). Since Pep Guardiola arrived in 2008, Barcelona lost -- among others -- to the likes of Hercules, Getafe, Real Sociedad, Osasuna (twice), Numancia, Rubin Kazan (at home!) and Mallorca.

 

In short, the Blaugrana has suffered its fair share of upsets, but more to the point: Surely Celtic doesn't belong in a conversation with those clubs? Plus, past Celtic teams' achievements were much greater because they were much better sides who proved it over time. But, of course, the game doesn’t have the sense of history it once did.

 

Others made the point that, for this Celtic side -- with a limited budget in what is now a limited league -- to defeat a team like Barcelona (off to their statistically greatest-ever start in La Liga, according to the stats) was, emotionally, a greater achievement, perhaps precisely because it was so unexpected.

 

I came to the conclusion that it comes down to what is more memorable to you, which is a matter of personal taste. Is it during times when your club is strong and obtains victories against major opposition? Or is it when your team is relatively weak, overachieves and pulls off an improbable upset?

 

 

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Ajax beating Man City was regarded as a shock, though it's more an indictment of the gulf between top Euro clubs and those excellent teams in second-tier markets earning a fraction of the money.

 

What struck me, though -- and left me with a degree of melancholy -- is that Celtic's win was a reminder of how times have changed. A bit like Ajax's home win over Manchester City or Benfica's draw at Old Trafford last year.

 

These are big teams with huge fan bases. Clubs that have won the European Cup, seven times between them, in fact, more than the Premier League's four representatives combined. Clubs that average more than 40,000 a game.

 

Yet because geography has relegated them to small television markets in small countries, they simply can't compete the way they once did. They don't get as much TV revenue from their national leagues, and because nearly half the Champions League money is distributed based on the size of the domestic broadcaster’s deal with UEFA (the rest is prize money), they get far less than a Premier League or Serie A side would get.

 

That goes a long way toward explaining why we were all left open-mouthed when Jose Mourinho’s Porto won the Champions League in 2004. Also why it's highly unlikely that anyone outside the big five European leagues will win it any time soon.

 

The disadvantage to historically big clubs in second-tier leagues is staggering. And, sadly, it's increasing. That's why I'm an advocate for a rethink, something like the old Atlantic League idea whereby the top sides from Belgium, Holland, Portugal and Scotland would form their own competition. That's a column for another time, but it's interesting to note that UEFA set an important precedent recently by allowing Holland and Belgium to run a combined top division in the women's league.

 

In the meantime, fans of these clubs are -- evidently -- modulating their expectations. Over time, the glorious past becomes a bit faded and you become more realistic. You take joy in smaller things. You don't love your club any less. It's what being a fan is all about.

 

Yet as a neutral and as someone who grew up watching the old European Cup contested with a far more level playing field, there's more than a twinge of sadness. And I hope that someday these clubs -- not just the ones I mentioned, but also ones like Anderlecht, PSV Eindhoven, Rangers, Porto, Sporting, Feyenoord, etc. -- will no longer have to play David to someone else's Goliath.