Spanish press blasts Barcelona

While many fans and reporters in Ireland and Scotland hailed a brave and disciplined performance by Celtic on Tuesday night at the Camp Nou, lamenting their bad luck at losing to Jordi Alba’s 94th minute winner, most observers in Spain saw a different game.

Although Barcelona won 2-1 to continue their 100% Champions League record this season, local match reports criticised Tito Vilanova’s side for conceding another sloppy goal at the back and lacking the spark up front to swat away a limited Celtic side.

“Guardiola’s Barcelona rarely played as badly,” wrote Juanma Rubio of AS. “Celtic survived for most of the game without doing much of note.”

In Catalan daily Mundo Deportivo Francesc Aguilar argued that Celtic had tried to copy the tactics which worked for Chelsea at the Camp Nou last season, but lacked the luck of Roberto Di Matteo’s side.

“Last night, Celtic wanted to imitate the same formula as the English, gather people back and look for a stroke of luck,” he wrote.

There was some praise for what many neutrals saw as a credible performance by Neil Lennon’s young side from Marca, whose correspondent Arch Bell predictably turned to a certain Hollywood film starring Mel Gibson for inspiration.

“Neil Lennon’s team executed their strategy to perfection playing mostly behind the ball and looking to strike quickly on counter attacks and set pieces,” argued Bell. “Celtic return to Scotland without any points, but they can certainly hold their heads high with their Braveheart-like performance.”