SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

Unbelievable though it may sound to those of us who can remember better days,today is the 20th anniversary of the last time Celtic won a knockout stages match in European competition. And what a way to do it,knocking out Barcelona-already on the way to the dizzy heights that would soon follow. And we did it the hard way too,winning a tasty home leg by the narrowest of margins and following it up with a resilient no-scoring draw at The Nou Camp.

Not only that,but we did it with a newbie 20yo at CH and a rookie goalkeeper fresh from celebrating his 19th birthday! Both players had a worldie,the best games of their careers. Indeed,it could easily be argued that David Marshall had the best performance of any Celtic goalkeeper,certainly in my lifetime.

Yes,they really were that good. And no,referring to their performances that night as being like The Alamo is not an exaggeration! But don’t just take my word for it,read the following from the always excellent Jonathan Wilson. After all,he is a far better writer than I am and knows a thing about the game too.

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From The Blizzard issue nine, by Jonathan Wilson (June 2013)

Under Martin O’Neill, Celtic enjoyed some extraordinary results in European competitions, but none, surely, was so frankly implausible as the rearguard action they mounted in the Camp Nou on the last great European night of his reign. They led 1-0 from Alan Thompson’s goal in the first leg, a fractious, enthralling game in which Rab Douglas, Thiago Motta and Javier Saviola were all sent off, but as Barcelona poured forwards in the early stages in the second leg, that advantage looked distinctly flimsy.

With Douglas suspended, Celtic were forced to turn to their 19-year-old reserve goalkeeper David Marshall whose very evident nerves were hardly helped when he skewed an awful Jackie McNamara backpass out for a corner in the second minute. With Ronaldinho to the fore, Barça, coming off the back of nine straight victories in La Liga, put together great fluid passages of passing that at times swept through Celtic’s defence: real humiliation was a possibility, and it seemed unlikely they could hold out until the ninth minute, never mind the 90th.

Marshall scrambled away a Gerard header, and Luis Enrique then deflected a goalbound shot against the keeper’s extended arm, as somehow Celtic did hold on. Not merely until the ninth minute, but until the 19th, the 29th, half-time. There was no early goal in the second half, and Barcelona’s exasperation was palpable — and with it a renewed and agonising sense of Celtic hope.

A Xavi chip set Luis García through against Marshall, but, diving backwards, the 19 year old got enough of a fingertip on his shot to deflect it over the bar. Then, diving to his left, Marshall clawed away a snap-shot from the substitute Sergio García, whose energy and drive had briefly rekindled Barça hopes.

The jitters were gone, and Marshall and Celtic suddenly seemed invincible as Barça’s early fluency disappeared to be replaced by a string of frustrated and harmless long-range efforts from Ronaldinho. “He has a terrific presence and calmness, he’s not fazed at all,” the Celtic manager O’Neill said of his keeper. “He did an interview for TV after the match and was last into the dressing-room. When he came in it was to enormous applause from the rest of his team-mates.”

It was richly deserved.

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A tremendous occasion for both our heroes to have on their CV-which in JK’s case was cut so cruelly short-and one which anyone who watched it,whether it be in the flesh or from the comfort of a bar or armchair,will remember forever.

But nobody more than David and John. As it should be.

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Above article by BMCUWP