Celtic’s win over Barcelona gives fans reason to believe

LONDON - Reuters

Celtic’s Kelvin Wilson celebrates at the final whistle following the Scots’ memorable victory over Barcelona. REUTERS photo

Celtic fans celebrated through the night after the team beat Barcelona 2-1 in the Champions League at Parkhead on Nov. 7 to give its supporters what is being described as the second greatest night in the club’s history.

In the week that the Scottish champions marked their 125th birthday, goals from Victor Wanyama and teenager Tony Watt gave Celtic its greatest international success since it beat Inter Milan to lift the European Cup in Lisbon in 1967.

“This is mind-blowing, this is Celtic 2, Barcelona 0,” a commentator said when Watt scored the second goal: “Wow, wow wow! A phenomenal result for [manager] Neil Lennon and his legends in hoops.”
Among the passionate Celtic fans, rock star Rod Stewart was seen with tears in his eyes as Celtic gave him and the 55,000 ecstatic fans in the stadium reasons to believe they had just seen something very special.

Lennon said it was one of the greatest nights of his career.

“This is a great footballing country with great history whether it be club wise or nationally and it has produced some of the greatest players to play the game,” Lennon said. “It’s had a lull but when we came into this competition we wanted to gain respect for the players, for the club, because it has a great reputation, and for the game here and I hope that it’s given the game a huge boost.

“We’ve just beaten the best team in the world,” Neil Lennon said afterwards.