Barca give Celtic the perfect present

Celtic got a present they could only have dreamt of on Wednesday with a stunning 2-1 victory over Spanish giants Barcelona in the Champions League. 

The Scottish club celebrated their 125th birthday this week and the fans will be partying on the streets of Glasgow tonight after Neil Lennon’s side showed the best in the business they can tango too.

Victor Wanyama headed the Scot champs in front in the 21st minute and teenage substitute Tony Watt cooly rounded off another swift counterattack in the 83rd.

Barca unsurprisingly dominated possession but could only score in stoppage time when Lionel Messi found the net after being continuously thwarted by goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

Barca’s first loss in Group G after three straight wins prevented them from securing early qualification from the knockout phase.

Champions League Results

Wednesday November 7  Bayern Munich 6-1 Lille  Benfica 2-0 Spartak  Braga 1-2 Man Utd  Celtic 2-1 Barcelona  CFC Cluj 1-3 Galatasaray  Chelsea 3-2 Shakhtar Don  Juventus 4-0 Nordsjaelland  Valencia 4-2 BATE

Celtic now have a good chance of qualifying with seven points, two behind Barca at the top. 

In the other group G match, Benfica defeated Spartak Moscow 2-0 to move one point above the Russian outfit.

Substitute Oscar Cardozo came on at half-time and headed in a cross in the 55th minute and then added a second when he struck a left-foot shot past goalkeeper Artem Rebrov. 

The Lisbon team have four points and the victory keeps their hopes of reaching the knockout stage alive. Spartak Moscow are at the bottom with three.   

Manchester United assured themselves of qualification with a 3-1 win over Braga. Once the lights were sorted out that is. 

Play was stopped for twenty minutes mid-match after a floodlight failure but this didn’t prevent United coming from a goal behind with another strike from Robin van Persie, a Wayne Rooney penalty and a calamity of errors that ended up in a goal for Javier Hernandez. 

United top Group H with 12 points with Braga bottom with three. 

Galatasaray are second on goal difference despite defeating their level-pegging partners CFR Cluj-Napoca 3-1.

It was Galatasaray’s first away Champions League match in 10 years and largely thanks to a hat-trick from Burat Yilmaz. 

Victor’s victory 

Shakhtar Donetsk and Chelsea jointly lead Group E with seven points but it was Chelsea who got the better of Donetsk on Wednesday. 

Victor Moses headed home the winner four minutes into injury time to earn Chelsea a 3-2 win over the Ukranians. 

Chelsea twice surrendered the lead in a frenetic match at Stamford Bridge, with Willian scoring both of Shakhtar’s goals in the ninth and 47th minutes to enhance his burgeoning reputation.

Fernando Torres had scored Chelsea’s opener in the sixth and Oscar had reclaimed the lead for the hosts in the 40th with a stunning 45-yard shot, with goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov to blame for both goals.

Juventus are third in the group with six points after comfortably beating bottom-dwellers Nordsjaelland 4-0. The Serie A reigning champs and leaders bouncing straight back from their first defeat in two domestic seasons last weekend against Inter Milan. 

Compared to the 1-1 draw between the clubs two weeks ago, this was a totally one-sided affair. It was Juve’s first win in this season’s competition. 

In Group F, Bayern Munich are level on points with Valencia at the top after both sides ran out convincing winners. 

Bayern Munich hit six past French outfit Lille, while Spanish club Valencia defeated BATE Borisov 4-2.

Claudio Pizarro scored a hat-trick for Bayern to help the Germans to nine points in the Group. Valencia also have nine, with BATE on six and lowly Lille yet to register a point.