Bittersweet reality - Celtic doing very well just to be competitive

SOCCER ANGLES: Given their respective financial resources, Celtic are in a different world to the likes of Barcelona

NEIL LENNON did not sound as if he was to be trying to be positive, it seemed more like a natural expression of his feelings. Pride was challenging disappointment. Hence Lennon was able to describe a defeat caused by an opposition winner in the fourth minute of injury-time as “bittersweet”.

Had Celtic just lost to anyone else in these circumstances – Kilmarnock, for instance – Lennon’s mood and choice of words would presumably have been very different. But this was Barcelona. This was the Nou Camp 11 days ago.

To recap, Celtic had just pushed the most gifted squad in Europe – one weakened by injuries admittedly – until the last seconds of a Champions League group game. Celtic lost in the 94th minute of play when Jordi Alba, a left back who cost €15.3m (more of which soon) ensured the ball crossed the line from about a yard out.

Thus a vital point in the group, and a famous point in the scheme of things, was lost. It is tempting to say that all Celtic were left with were memories of defiance but that is wrong. As in their victory in Moscow earlier in the group, what Celtic accumulated was respect and self-respect.

That should matter when Barcelona arrive in Glasgow next Wednesday. Celtic are second in Group G and one imagines their fate will be defined by the games after Wednesday, at Benfica, then home to Spartak Moscow.

These permutations are evidence in themselves of something going right at Parkhead. Deep down, Lennon and Celtic must know that their presence in Champions League company counts as an achievement in itself when set against the economic, sporting and emotional background in Scotland.

Rangers’ downfall and the Ibrox implosion of 2012 is the greatest example of this malaise, but Motherwell were beaten 5-0 on aggregate by Panathinaikos in their Champions League qualifier – and then lost to Levante in the Europa League – and both Dundee United and Hearts exited the Europa League at the first stage.

It was in July that SFA chief executive Stewart Regan warned of a “lingering death” if Rangers were not voted into Scottish Division One following their ejection from the SPL. But the longer-term decline of Scottish football is also the context in which Celtic’s narrow defeat in Barcelona can be viewed.

Lennon, after all, has sufficient Parkhead longevity to be asked to recall a previous visit to the Nou Camp, in November 2004. Lennon was a player then and Celtic did hold on for a 1-1 draw. As a direct comparison, losing 2-1 eight years later was nothing to celebrate.

Yet in another way, it was. As well as Lennon, Celtic had Chris Sutton and John Hartson in their team then, also recruited from England, also for decent money. But it is notable – back to Jordi Alba – that the €7.5 million Celtic paid Chelsea in 2000 is still Celtic’s record transfer fee.

Celtic adjusted financially as a club after Martin O’Neill departed in 2005. But in roughly the same period, so did Barcelona.

The Catalans are rightly admired for their cantera, the La Masia academy from which Xavi, Iniesta, Pique, Puyol and other Spanish World Cup winners have emerged. There is also Lionel Messi, brought over to La Masia as a boy from Argentina.

This list alone offers compelling reasons why this system is now the most-wanted thing in football. It is part of the reason why former members of the Barcelona hierarchy, Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain, are at Manchester City.

But what cannot be overlooked at Barcelona in recent seasons is the simultaneous acquisition of players. Fuelled by Champions League income, in the last four years alone Barca have paid over €20- and €30 million for players such as Dani Alves, Cesc Fabregas, David Villa, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alexis Sanchez.

On published figures, Barca’s net outlay since that 1-1 Celtic draw is €360 million. Celtic went to the Nou Camp just over a week ago with a striker, Gary Hooper, signed from Scunthorpe United for €3 million. That’s a fifth of the price of Barca’s left back.

Celtic’s biggest-ever transfer entailed the sale of Aiden McGeady to Moscow. Barca’s involved the purchase of Ibrahimovic and swap of Samuel Eto’o for an estimated €61 million.

Beneath that are other telling figures. The same summer that Villa arrived at Barca, they also recruited Javier Mascherano from Liverpool. The cost was €22 million. At the same time Ibrahimovic joined, Dmitriy Chygrynskiy was bought from Shakhtar Donetsk for €27.5m.

A player who has barely registered at Barca, Keirrison, cost an initial € 14 million in 2009. He is back on loan in his native Brazil now. Remember Alexander Hleb? Arsenal sold him to Barca for €17 million. Fabregas and Alex Song were to follow the same path – Arsenal raking in around €70 million. These are sums to make Parkhead swoon.

And all the time, Barca’s home-grown players have evolved into a magical team. Where they had one European Cup in 2004, they have now four.

The point being bludgeoned home here is that the playing field has been tilted. Celtic, and other clubs from smaller national associations, are running uphill. Given equivalent sustained spending, Lennon’s men would probably have held on in the Nou Camp 11 days ago. It might be a similar task next Wednesday in Glasgow. In Champions League terms, Celtic are doing well just to be competitive.

But there is something appropriately melancholic about a word like bittersweet.

DERBY DEFEAT INCREASES PRESSURE ON O'NEILL

Neil Lennon’s mentor, Martin O’Neill, is having a less impressive time. Sunderland have won one of their eight Premier League games this season and while they have only lost one, there is growing impatience on Wearside.

Losing at home to Teesside neighbours Middlesbrough on Tuesday night in the League Cup has turned some of that feeling into anger and, unquestionably, this is a tough moment for O’Neill.

The impact the Irishman made last season when replacing Steve Bruce is not forgotten, nor will it be, but Sunderland have just lost what their fans consider to be their best chance of reaching even a semi-final of a cup competition.

Wearside’s ambition – and it’s the same for so many others – is limited. There have been too many bad days over decades, not years, for supporters to be anything other than realistic. That is why Tuesday night disappointed them so much – they had got their hopes up. And they were at home.

Sunderland are there today again to host O’Neill’s previous club Aston Villa. Sunderland need a victory just as much as Villa but what O’Neill could really do with is an improved performance from his players. Sunderland have been dull. And while fans will take effective and dull, there’s not a big appetite for ineffective and dull.