It was one of the greatest nights in Celtic's illustrious history. A historic Barcelona side with the greatest player of all-time Lionel Messi in his pomp rocked up to Celtic Park for a Champions League group stage game in 2012. Barcelona dominated the game throughout but Celtic held firm. Every man on that pitch put in a valiant performance that night and are now part of one of the biggest upsets in Champions League history.
It's coming up to 10 ten years since that glorious night in Glasgow so we had a look at the Celtic starting XI from that night to see where are they now.
Celtic 2-1 Barcelona: Where are they now?
GK- Fraser Forster
The goalkeeper was a fan favourite at Celtic Park over his two stints at the club. From 2011-2014 he was the number 1 as Celtic won three league titles on the bounce before moving down south to Southampton. He had a fairly successful time on the South Coast before losing the number 1 spot in 2018 and he went back to Celtic on loan in 2019, where he won another league title. He returned to St Mary's and is now the starting goalkeeper again, usurping Alex McCarthy.
RB- Mikel Lustig
The Swedish defender is another player who had a happy tenure in Glasgow. He played a role in eight of the nine titles Celtic won in a row in the 2010's. He left Scotland in 2019 to join Gent in Belgium before returning to Sweden to play for AIK, the same club Irishman Zak Elbouzedi currently plays for. Lustig was also part of Sweden's Euro 2020 squad at the age of 34 and he retired from international football after the tournament.
CB- Efe Ambrose
Ambrose is one of a few who has stayed in Scotland since leaving Celtic. The Nigeria international left Celtic in 2017 to join Neil Lennon at Hibernian and has stayed in Scotland. He had a short spell at Derby in 2019 where he didn't make a league appearance but went back up north of the border. He is currently on loan at Dunfermline Athletic from St. Johnstone.
Well done @VictorMoses 🤸♂️, but we think this one from Efe Ambrose was better! 🤸♂️ @thenff @FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/9xg2IcuO9Z
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) June 26, 2018
CB- Kelvin Wilson
The former Nottingham Forest defender may not be a name many of you remember and he didn't stay at Celtic for that long. He joined on a free from Forest in 2011 but would rejoin them just two years later after requesting to move back to England for family reasons. He would struggle with injuries upon his return to the City ground and would move to Rotherham in 2016 before retiring in 2017. He is now out of retirement as a player-coach at Ilkeston Town in the seventh tier of English football.
LB- Adam Matthews
Playing out of position at left-back that famous night was Wales international Adam Matthews. He plays right-back most of the time and is currently playing in London for Charlton Athletic. He spent some time at Sunderland and Bristol City before moving to the Valley in 2019 and has been a regular for the Addics ever since
RW- Kris Commons
Commons was simply phenomenal during this era for Celtic. The English-born Scotland international was scoring goals for fun in the Scottish Premier League. From 2012-2015 he scored 67 goals in all competitions for the Bhoys from midfield as they romped to title after title. However when Brendan Rodgers joined the club, Commons didn't play. He joined Neil Lennon at Hibs but it wasn't too successful. He had a back injury at the time and after having surgery in 2017, decided to retire. He's now a pundit on Sky Sports.
Behind door number 1⃣5⃣ on the SPFL Advent Calendar, we've got @kcommons15! Check out some of the former @CelticFC number 1⃣5⃣'s best goals! #SPFLChristmas! 🎄❄🎅 pic.twitter.com/iCzrhfYb4j
— SPFL (@spfl) December 15, 2018
CM- Victor Wanyama
Wanyama scored the first goal on this night and put in a fantastic performance on this night and garnered attention from the likes of Manchester United. The Kenyan was a prized commodity at the time. He would move to Southampton the following summer. He would be a regular under Pocchetino on the south coast and would follow the Argentine to Tottenham in 2016, where he made nearly 100 at White Hart Lane. He's now playing in Canada in the MLS for CF Montreal.
CM- Joe Ledley
The Welshman chose to join Celtic in the summer of 2010 over the likes of Roma and Stoke and he was a very important player for Celtic. He was a regular starter across his three and a half years at Celtic Park before finally moving to the Premier League with Crystal Palace. He would play semi-regularly at Selhurst Park but one of the finest moments of his career would be playing for Wales in Euro 2016. He broke his leg a month before the tournament but recovered in time to play in all the games as Wales made a run to the semi-finals. He retired last November, aged 35-years old.
LM- Charlie Mulgrew
A product of the Celtic academy, Mulgrew had to leave Celtic Park to find first team football as a youngster. He played at Wolves, Dundee United and Southend before joining Aberdeen where he finally nailed down a starting spot. He impressed enough to return to Celtic in 2010 and he became a pivotal piece in Neil Lennon's side. He usually played in defence as a centre-back and left-back but on this night he played a bit further up the pitch to trying stop the Barcelona right wing of Messi and Dani Alves. He left Celtic again in 2016 to join Blackburn Rovers where he stayed until 2021 when he joined Dundee United again where he currently is at.
ST- Georgios Samaras
The Greek striker was captain on the night and could be unstoppable on his day. Samaras was a unique talent: he had the frame of a target man but the elegance and skill of a tricky winger, similar to maybe Dimitar Berbatov. He was another fan favourite at Celtic before leaving to join West Brom in 2014. He wouldn't play much for the Baggies and moved around Saudi Arabia, Spain, USA and Turkey before retiring in 2018. He is currently vice-president of his old club OFI Crete back in Greece.
ST- Miku
There was a rare start for the Venezuelen striker this night. He was on loan from Getafe in Spain and would play less than 900 minutes in total for the club while there. He returned back to Spain and is now currently playing for former La Liga champions Deportivo La Coruña in the third tier of Spanish football after they've had a few rough years financially.
Substitutes
Beram Kayal
The Israeli was a rock at the centre of the park for the majority of his time in Scotland. He made well over 100 appearances for the clubs and won four league titles and two Scottish Cups before moving all the way down south to Brighton in 2015. He helped the Seagulls get promoted to the Premier League but is now back at his native Israel playing for Bnei Sakhnin.
Tony Watt
This will fixture go down as the greatest night in Watt's career. He came on for little over 20 minutes and touched the balls three times and scored one of the most memorable goals in Celtic's illustrious history. It's a moment every football fan dreams of, scoring the winner against a European giant like Barcelona and Watt completed the dream. He still plays in Scotland for Dundee United and streams regularly in Twitch.
The Celtic fan commentary of that famous goal will never be beaten.
See Also: When Wes Hoolahan Came Of Age Against Deportivo La Coruna
