In-form Celts braced for Barca test

MASSIMO DONATI feels Celtic could not be in higher spirits ahead of their daunting Champions League meeting with Barcelona on Wednesday.

Goals from Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Scott McDonald and Andreas Hinkel secured all three points against Hearts at Celtic Park on Saturday.

The result allowed the Scottish champions to remain within four points of leaders Rangers and set up Celtic nicely for another heady European night in Glasgow’s east end.

And Donati admitted the victory will help Celtic keep their focus.

“It was important to win the game to allow us to concentrate on the next game,” Donati said.

“We are hoping for a good result against Barcelona. We know it will be a difficult game, because all the teams left in the Champions League are good teams.”

Celtic beat Donati’s former club, AC Milan, at Parkhead this year but he predicted a far tougher challenge from Barcelona.

“It’s not a fantastic time for Barcelona at the moment but I think they are the best team in Europe,” Donati added.

“They may have some injuries but the most important thing for us is to play well.”

Meanwhile, Donati played down an incident between goalkeeper Artur Boruc and skipper Stephen McManus after both players clashed early in the second half against Hearts.

He said: “Sometimes these things happen during the game and that’s normal.”

Meanwhile, Walter Smith refused to be drawn on whether his most prolific goalscorer, Kris Boyd, would be in his plans for this week’s crunch UEFA Cup tie against Panathinaikos, after Rangers cruised to a 2-0 win over Kilmarnock yesterday.

“Kris plays in a lot of our league games and he got the goal again against Kilmarnock.

“We are delighted with that because, after missing one or two chances at the start, the two-goal cushion gave us a little bit of comfort.”