captain ready for barca challenge

David Friel
STEPHEN McMANUS admits he doesn’t care if Celtic’s UEFA Champions League second leg with Barcelona is remembered as the worst game in European history – as long as the Hoops are celebrating at the end.

After a thrilling 3-2 win for Barca in the first leg last month, both sides received credit for serving up a spectacular feast of football in Glasgow.

With Aiden McGeady and Shunsuke Nakamura capable of lighting up a game with one flick, and Barca’s squad reading like a who’s who of world stars, the stage is set for another compelling contest on Tuesday night.

However, McManus believes Celtic must adopt a 'win at all costs' mentality going into the match and stressed that they will gladly accept any sort of triumph.

“I think for us, we wouldn’t care less if the game was a poor spectacle and we went through,” said the Hoops skipper.

“We’re really looking forward to it. As a kid, you always dreamed of playing at big stadiums and there aren’t many bigger than the Nou Camp.

“We’re up for the challenge and we don’t have anything to fear because nobody really expects us to go out and beat Barcelona.”

While Celtic racked up a ninth consecutive SPL win on Saturday against Hibernian, Barca’s La Liga challenge faltered as they lost 4-2 to Atletico Madrid.

However, McManus refuted suggestions that Celtic are going up against a fragile Barcelona side – pointing out that they were in fine form in Glasgow two weeks ago.

He added: “We’ve seen bits and bobs of Barcelona’s game at the weekend, but I think we should look to take more out of the game at Celtic Park two week ago.

“That night, we saw how good Barcelona are. You see these guys on television, but it’s only when you come up against then that you realise just how good they are.

“But we’re a confident bunch of boys and we’ll go into the game believing in our own ability and believing that we can go through. We know it’s going to be tough but we certainly believe that we can achieve something.”