RIGHT BACK IN THE THICK OF IT

Celtic’s return to top table rewarded with mouth-watering ties

AFTER a three-year absence from the Champions League, a few seconds more was never going to kill anyone. The last of the 32 teams to be drawn from the giant glass bowls in Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum, Celtic fans were already scanning the budget airline possibilities by the time Roberto Carlos confirmed their grouping with Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach in Group C.

Those who had earlier implored the legendary Brazilian left-back to grant them an elusive reunion with his beloved Real Madrid were to be disappointed. But only slightly so. Sure, the prospect of an 11th and 12th clash with the Catalans in 14 years was not on the top of many wish lists purely down to its over-familiarity.

As headaches go, though, it’s one Brendan Rodgers might just have settled for as his side’s aggregate lead against Hapoel Be’er Sheva was cut to one goal on Tuesday night.

Any mild sense of disappointment that Messi, Neymar, Iniesta et al will be coming to Glasgow again (what a drag) is surely offset by a section that boasts more subplots than a John le Carré novel.

The prospect of Rodgers locking horns with the five-times winners and reigning Spanish champions is exactly the reason the Irishman readily swapped the golf course for the training ground in May.

The team Rodgers crafted at Swansea had more than a whiff of Barca’s famed tiki-taka about them. Imitation was the best form of flattery.

But it was at Liverpool where the most sumptuous element of the story that will unfold in the coming months had its roots.

At £22.8million, Luis Suarez was hardly an unknown quantity when he moved from Ajax to Merseyside under Kenny Dalglish in 2011.

Frankly, though, the player that moved on to Barcelona three years later was on a different level to the one that had arrived. Without question, one of the world’s most formidable talents.

Speaking shortly after Rodgers was unveiled as Celtic manager, the South American superstar left no one in any doubt as to the reasons behind that.

‘If it was not for Brendan, then I know I would not be the same player that you see at Barcelona today,’ said Suarez. ‘Such a big part of my education is down to him and his management.

‘Of course he works to make the team stronger but he really works on a one to one level with the players.

‘He will sit down with each player at the club, and work on where you can improve, where you can exploit opposition, he leaves nothing to chance.

‘He is a very intelligent man. If the players at his next club listen to his words, they will become better players for sure.’

Containing a player who has already scored 88 goals in 98 games for the Catalans is tough enough. Simultaneously denying Neymar and Lionel Messi is a task akin to nailing jelly to a wall.

Yet hope will spring eternal. Celtic famously eliminated Barca from the 2003-04 UEFA Cup, took a point in the Nou Camp in the 2004-05 Champions League and achieved arguably their greatest result since Lisbon ’67 four years ago by seeing off probably the finest club team of all time at Celtic Park courtesy of Tony Watt’s goal.

Perhaps the less said about the last encounter, a 6-1 hiding in Spain last time out, the better.

Any lingering Barça fatigue among the rank and file will certainly have been blown away by the prospect of a first competitive encounter with Manchester City.

Celtic have faced Leeds United, Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Blackburn down the years so the prospect of locking horns with the Sky Blues is utterly intoxicating.

By their standards, a fourthplace finish in last year’s Premier League was poor but given the circumstances of Manuel Pellegrini’s departure, perhaps not entirely unexpected.

Under Pep Guardiola, though, City look an entirely different proposition.

Already 12 goals have been scored to see off Sunderland and Stoke in the league as well as Steaua Bucharest — with half of them coming from that other Argentine — Sergio Aguero.

In all likelihood, Yaya Toure will not be a Manchester City player for much longer, thus denying us the prospect of him going up against his brother Kolo.

But the very fact the now Celtic defender was a part of the squad that won the title with the last kick of the 2011-12 season makes his return to the Etihad deeply emotional.

To say nothing of Patrick Roberts.

When the winger confirmed last spring that in the event Celtic were drawn against his parent club in the competition, he would be allowed to play, the Englishman might have been accused of wishful thinking.

Not now. A £12m player who found himself squeezed out by City chairman’s Khaldoon Al Mubarak’s bottomless pockets to the extent he felt compelled to join Celtic on a two-year loan, the opportunity to impress is now gilt-edged.

Redemption and a degree of vindication will doubtless also be on Rodgers’ mind when the City games come into view.

Despite taking Liverpool to within a whisker of the title in 2014 (City ironically triumphed after Steven Gerrard’s infamous slip against Chelsea), the Irishman was lampooned to a truly remarkable level as his Anfield tenure hit the skids soon after.

Once hailed the brightest, most progressive young manager in the English game, his dismissal from Liverpool almost a year ago now rocked him.

Celtic have been the spectacular beneficiaries of that ludicrously rash judgment.

Rest assured, Rodgers will be counting the days for the chance to prove his detractors south of the border spectacularly wrong.

‘Celtic will be hard, as well,’ insisted City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain.

‘I love watching Celtic play Rangers and games like that and they are friends of ours so as I say, it’s an amazing group.’

Despite clubbing Young Boys 9-2 on aggregate to qualify for the group stages, Mönchengladbach, who finished fourth in the Bundesliga, are a welcome third seed for two reasons.

Firstly, like Barcelona and City, there are no obvious travelling concerns. Secondly, the side which lost the 1977 final to Liverpool represent the chance to etch a fresh chapter in Celtic’s storied European history.

Despite jousts with Bayern, Stuttgart and Hamburg down the decades, Gladbach’s 54,000 capacity Borussia Park is unchartered territory.

Privately, most within the confines of Lennoxtown would now take edging out the Germans to secure a Europa League spot.

But having come this far in the main event, dreaming about going a little further is permitted.

Now, having come this far, dreaming of going further is permitted