Barca wary of Celtic after defeat at Atletico

04/03/2008 02:47

By Simon Baskett

MADRID (Reuters) - Celtic will draw hope from Barcelona’s shaky display against Atletico Madrid at the weekend as they look to turn the tables on the Catalans in the return leg of their Champions League tie at the Nou Camp on Tuesday.

Despite taking the lead with a stunning overhead kick from Ronaldinho, the Catalans were put to the sword by a more determined and effective Atletico who scored four unanswered goals before running out 4-2 winners at the Calderon.

Barca, who lacked steel in midfield and bite up front, are wary of a similar fightback from Celtic who went down 3-2 at Parkhead in the first leg two weeks ago.

"We have to learn to kill off games like this, especially when we are in control," midfielder Xavi told reporters after the defeat. "It’s the same old story - you pay a heavy price if you make mistakes and we made too many out there.

"They believed in themselves and were more aggressive than us and with just half a chance they scored two quick goals against us that did us a lot of damage."

Barca coach Frank Rijkaard decided to leave the live-wire Lionel Messi and midfield powerhouse Yaya Toure on the bench for Saturday’s match but the Dutchman is likely to recall the pair as he looks to avoid a repetition of the Calderon debacle.

"This defeat won’t .....continued below

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have an influence on the next game," he insisted. "We know we didn’t play well and that it was a bad result, but we’ve got to keep working hard and prepare properly for the Champions League game."

EARLY GOAL

Celtic racked up their ninth league win in a row with a 2-0 victory at Hibs on Saturday, but they did not manage to shake off their determined opponents until Lee Naylor and Georgios Samaras broke the deadlock with second half strikes.

Manager Gordon Strachan said his team would have to get an early goal against Barcelona if they were to have any chance of overturning the Catalans.

"I’m not saying we will go gung-ho, but you always feel better if you walk off the park knowing you tried to score and didn’t just play with every man behind the ball," Strachan told Scottish Sunday papers.

"All we can do in preparation is work with the aim of scoring first."

The statistics, however, do not favour the Scots.

They have a dreadful away record in the Champions League having lost 15 of their last 16 away matches, while Barcelona have lost only one of their last 21 European home games.

Probable teams:

Barcelona: 1-Victor Valdes; 11-Gianluca Zambrotta, 5-Carles Puyol, 3-Gabriel Milito, 22-Eric Abidal; 6-Xavi, 8-Andres Iniesta, 24-Yaya Toure or 20-Deco, 10-Ronaldinho or 14-Thierry Henry, 19-Lionel Messi, 9-Samuel Eto’o.

Celtic: 1-Artur Boruc; 52-Paul Caddis, 44-Stephen McManus, 5-Gary Caldwell, 3-Lee Naylor; 11-Paul Hartley, 46-Aiden McGeady, 18-Massimo Donati, 25-Shunsuke Nakamura; 10-Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, 27-Scott McDonald.

Referee: Pieter Vink (Netherlands)

(Additional reporting by Kenny MacDonald in Glasgow)

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