Eoghan O’Connell learns from Lionel Messi lesson

When Cork native Eoghan O’Connell catches sight of Lionel Messi on the Parkhead pitch he’ll be thinking of a player who helped rather than hindered his career.

Two months ago, the 21-year-old was chucked into the deep end by Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers as Celtic applied a damage limitation policy to the trouncing they were shipping at the hands of Barcelona.

Centre-back O’Connell was as downbeat as any of his more experienced teammates trekking off the famous turf that night into the basement dressing rooms aghast at the 7-0 landslide they suffered.

Attempts to reconcile that lesson with the fact he’d been tasked with shadowing the world’s greatest player cuts little slack with the cousin of Paul O’Connell.

He doesn’t want to be remembered for that cameo and, should the chance present itself again on home soil to shackle the Argentinian, he won’t shirk at the responsibility.

“Some people have said about me ‘yeah, he’s played against Messi and Barca at the Nou Camp’ but I’m not the type to be happy with just that,” he explained with a resilience Roy Keane would be proud of.

“The outcome was well gone by the time I came on from the bench, caused by a poor start to the game, and I wasn’t happy with the manner of the defeat.

“I’m not looking to rest on that appearance. I want to keep improving and pushing on in my career.”

Whether that progress occurs at Celtic remains to be seen. O’Connell became an instant hit with new manager Rodgers in the summer, making six starts by the end of August as the new boss engineered a route through the play-off rounds of the Champions League.

Talk of the Leesider matching his club exploits with graduation to the Ireland senior fold surfaced but a clutch of defenders came back from injury and Rodgers went for experience.

O’Connell’s brief run-out in Barcelona has been his only game-time in the past three months, prompting Rodgers to consider sending the Ireland U21 international on loan in January.

“I’ve learned to deal with plenty of downs in my career, so I can’t get too disappointed at not playing much,” said O’Connell, whose brother, former Cobh player Andy, is also operating in Scotland for Ayr United.

“Although I had a strong start to the season, in the back of mind there was a feeling I’d need to be on top of my game to stay in the team. The manager makes the decisions. As a player, sometimes you don’t know where it’s coming from but I’ll work hard to try get back in.

“It’s far from ideal not playing games. We’ll see what happens over the next few weeks.”

O’Connell has been sent on loan already, spending time earlier this year at Cork City, and it seems Rodgers has plans for him.

“We have had a couple of enquiries for Eoghan in terms of a loan,” said the former Liverpool boss.

“He did very well in pre-season but the team has changed and he is not getting so much game time. So if he can get out on loan that will give him the game time he needs to develop.”

For Celtic to salvage their prospects of reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League, then victory against the 2015 champions is imperative tonight.

Rodgers said: “We probably gave Barcelona too much respect at the Nou Camp. Our players are very proud to play for Celtic and the defeat hurt them greatly. In front of our fans, I’m hoping it will be a different story.”

Despite the 7-0 pounding in the Camp Nou, Barca boss Luis Enrique is taking nothing for granted tonight. “It is going to be a different game completely. We have to be ready for everything,” he said.

“It is good to score early in all games but Celtic need points so they will come out but again I say it will be different, it will be nothing like the game that we had before. The Camp Nou is not a reference, what will be a reference is the game against Manchester City.”

Barca midfielder Rafinha says that while Celtic Park will be a cauldron of noise, the Catalans are determined to book their place in the knockout stages tonight. “Qualification in itself is a massive motivation,” he said. “We will play at a beautiful ground, very special, with fans who impose a lot of pressure. We know that it will be a tough game where Celtic will be motivated to do better than at the Camp Nou.”