FROM BLACKBURN TO BARCA ... TIERNEY’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE JOURNEY:
HE may be preparing to take his first steps in the Champions League against some of the planet’s most gifted players, but the excitement of a European odyssey has long been in Kieran Tierney’s blood.
The 19-year-old left-back yesterday revealed he was a Primary One schoolboy when he made his first pilgrimage to follow Celtic in continental competition. Admittedly, it was to Blackburn rather than Barcelona, but Tierney was smitten from that moment in the autumn of 2002.
He knows exactly the kind of adrenaline shot that would have flooded through Celtic supporters as they watched the club being placed in a group gilded with genuine glamour.
Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach aren’t bad opponents to announce a return to the big time.
Not so long ago, Tierney would watch his father, Michael, hurriedly make plans to try to ensure they would be in the right city at the right time to watch the team in action.
Now the Scotland international will be a key component of Brendan Rodgers’ team when Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Aguero and all the rest come calling.
Tierney was at Celtic Park to watch the draw and see one of his idols, Roberto Carlos, conduct the pertinent part.
It added to what Tierney admitted was a somewhat surreal feeling. Having come so far in such a short space of time, he is now preparing for the greatest challenge of his nascent career.
‘It is madness,’ grinned Tierney. ‘It’s hard to take in just now. I am just keeping positive. Hopefully, I can do well in training in the next few weeks and play my part.
‘Everybody knows about English football, everyone watches it. Obviously, everyone knows Barcelona, and German football is great as well. They are going to be six really tough games. It’s the best of the best you are playing.
‘Looking back, my earliest memory of European football would be the season Celtic made the UEFA Cup final in Seville (in 2003). That was extraordinary and it was great to watch them.
‘I didn’t go to Seville but I went to Blackburn in one of the earlier rounds. I was dead young. I think I was in Primary One. I had just started school!
‘I didn’t go to school the next day — I don’t think my dad went to work next day either. ‘I’m still raging with my dad that he didn’t take me to Seville. But I went to a couple of the home games on that run as well. ‘When I had grown up a bit, I went to some other away games. I went to Milan for the last-16 game when Kaka scored the winner in extra time. Stephen McManus was playing at the back that night and it was great to see a Scottish player there. ‘I also went to Barcelona for a game. I’m not even sure of the result then as I’d be lucky if I was 10 at the time. I didn’t go on the stadium tour or anything. I just watched the game from about a mile up in the stand. No wonder I didn’t even know what the score was. ‘There will be people who have booked their flights already for these group games. I remember my dad was always on the phone to different people and trying to organise tickets. ‘He used to get the bus — a 30-hour journey sometimes — and it is proper dedication from the fans that go. They work hard and it’s brilliant for them to get this. I don’t know if my dad will make every game this time but he said he would try.’ Tierney quickly progressed from a fan to academy player. He was famously a ballboy at Parkhead on the night in 2012 when Barcelona, familiar foes over the past decade or so, were defeated thanks to goals from Victor Wanyama and Tony Watt. This time, a trip to the Nou Camp provides Celtic’s first assignment. They will hope for a better outcome than the 6-1 defeat in 2013 that marked their last groupstage involvement. ‘Four years have flown in for me since I was a ballboy against Barcelona,’ said Tierney. ‘I can’t believe I was sitting in that corner and now, hopefully, I’ll be playing against them. I was sitting just in front of the Green Brigade when Wanyama scored. He ran towards me before checking away at the last minute. ‘Everyone had been asking me who I wanted us to draw but I didn’t have a preference. Every team you get is a tough team. ‘But obviously Barcelona is the place where you want to play football against great players. ‘No matter who you get, it’s going to be big names. There are no easy options and no easy groups.’ Former Barcelona orchestrator Pep Guardiola is now trying to import his Catalan philosophy into