That’s all for now. Thanks as always for following along with us. Here’s Ewan Murray’s full match report.
Updated
Borussia Mönchengladbach have drawn 1-1 with Manchester City. That result propels the German side into the Europa League with a third-place finish in Group C and leaves Celtic on the outside of European football looking in.
Full time: Celtic 0-2 Barcelona
There is the final whistle and Barcelona are your official Group C winners, sealing passage to the knockout stage ahead of Manchester City, who finish second. It was a fairly pedestrian victory for the Spanish champions tonight despite a brave challenge from the hosts.
90 min+2: Barca simply cruising to the finish line here. An uninterrupted sequence of passes leaves Celtic mere spectators.
90 min: The fourth official signals for four minutes of added time.
89 min: Rakitic shown yellow for a foul as Celtic charge forward.
88 min: Armstrong shown yellow for a foul that upturns Messi near the touchline. Frustrations boiling over for Celtic.
85 min: Barca keeping possession with maddening efficiency as time runs short on the hosts.
83 min: Messi with a mazy run through a gaggle of Celtic defenders before slipping a pass to Suarez, whose shot from point-blank range surely should have been a third Barcelona goal. Instead, he misses the target.
79 min: Rakutic wins a corner and takes it for Barca, but nothing comes of it. The Spanish champions seem to have warded off Celtic’s best offerings and are simply in mop-up mode with just over 10 minutes remaining.
76 min: Now the final sub of the match as Neymar walks off for the Turkish star Arda Turan. A fantastic day for the Brazilian, whose assist to Neymar in the 24th minute helped Barca break the deadlock.
73 min: Barca answer with their second switch as Marlon enters for Pique.
72 min: Rodgers makes his third and final substitution as Roberts enters for McGregor.
71 min: Both Lustic and Neymar are shown yellow after a flare-up near the touchline. Neymar will miss the next match, but it’s doubtful he’ll mind too much with Barca already through to the next stage.
69 min: These fans have not budged one inch as Celtic continue, scoreline notwithstanding, to put on one of their best Champions League performances of the year. Celtic win a corner and play it short but now Barca have dispossessed them and are on the counter-attack.
66 min: Now Barca will make their first substitution as Digne enters for Jordi Alba.
65 min: Free kick is played to Dembele, who can’t put it on target and manages to bang heads with Pique in the process.
63 min: Another switch for Celtic as Bitton enters for Rogic. Free kick coming up for the hosts.
58 min: The slim margins of the game were on clear display there. Dembele was so close to leveling the score for the hosts, then moments later Barca struck to, it would seem, put it out of reach.
GOAL! Celtic 0-2 Barcelona (Messi, 55 min)
Messi calmly beats the keeper from the spot and Barcelona’s lead is double, putting Celtic’s chances at three points tonight in serious jeopardy.
Updated
54 min: Izaguirre is whistled holding onto Suarez in the area and a penalty is awarded to Barcelona!
53 min: Another golden chance as Forrest plays a ball into the area for Dembele, surrounded by a gaggle of frozen Barca defenders. But he heads the ball directly into the hands of Ter Stegen. Celtic will scarcely get a better chance than that!
49 min: McGregor with an attempt on goal for the hosts but a relatively drama-free save for Ter Stegen.
48 min: Barca concede a free kick on a Neymar foul and Dembele has a shot parried away after the restart. Can’t say enough about the cauldron-like atmosphere here.
46 min: And the second half is under way at Parkhead with one change: James Forrest in for the injured Scott Sinclair.
Half-time: Celtic 0-1 Barcelona
There’s the whistle and time is called on the opening half. Yet another superb finish from Messi is all that separates the sides after an inspired showing from Brendan Rodgers’ men.
Updated
45 min: The fourth official signals for one minute of stoppage time.
42 min: Sinclair is hacked down by Jordi Alba, who’s shown yellow for the foul. Medical staff trot out to treat him, but he will stay in the match for now. That would be a crucial loss for Celtic.
40 min: Messi plays it into Suarez, whose header is turned away by the keeper. How near Barca were to doubling their advantage there!
37 min: Animated gestures from Barcelona coach Luis Enrique along the touchline for Rakitic and Sergi Roberto to play higher up and wider on the pitch, thus opening more space for Messi in the center.
36 min: Moments later Celtic are back on the attack and Dembele lets rip a right-footed shot from just inside the area and Ter Stegen makes the save. Best attempt of the day for the hosts so far.
35 min: Simunovic is dispossessed by Messi in Celtic’s own final third and Barca move into attack quickly, but the hosts clamp down and snuff out the attack.
32 min: Sinclair a touch early on a run yet again and ruled offside by the linesman.
30 min: A half hour down and Celtic have shown far better than in the first meeting but still no serious chances on the Barca goal.
27 min: Celtic will have a free kick after Brown is sent airborne on a Gomes foul, but nothing comes of it.
GOAL! Celtic 0-1 Barcelona (Messi, 24 min)
A typically beautiful goal as the ball is played across the area to Neymar at the corner of the area, who picks out an onrushing Messi and lobs the ball into the perfect spot for the Argentine striker to deliver it inside the near post past the keeper from short range. Simply sublime.
Updated
23 min: Messi is hacked down and Sviatchenko is shown yellow for the foul. Free kick to Barca.
22 min: Gomes has a go on goal but it’s out for a Barca corner. Neymar plays it short to the near post, not entirely intentionally it seems, but it causes confusion and a scary moment for Celtic before it goes out for another corner. Neymar plays it short again but this time it’s cleared past the halfway line.
19 min: Jordi Alba makes a well-timed run onto a through ball into the area near the left side of the goal and plays it to the far post, where Rakitic tries to head it on goal but misses the target. Probably the best chance of the match for either side so far.
17 min: A good spell of possession for the visitors here as they keep it in the middle third and make Barca chase. But they’re unable to penetrate the Celtic defense and are ultimately dispossessed.
14 min: A poor pass by Ter Stegen goes straight to Sinclair, who’s been excellent today, but he fails to make Barca immediately pay. Celtic manage to keep it in the final third for another half minute, but there’s nowhere to go for Armstrong and he’s ultimately dispossessed and the Spanish champions go to work again. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Celtic supporters are singing The Fields of Athenry in full throat.
11 min: The ball is through to Sinclair and a golden opportunity here for Celtic ... but the flag goes up as he’s ruled offside.
10 min: Messi has a shot blocked. Lots of two-way action so far with the ball going up and down the pitch.
8 min: A note from Jim Lines, via email:
Yes, FCB have a sponsorship deal with Replay Jeans, resulting in the South American triumvirate and the La Masia production line arriving at games clothed in denim. As someone who was once so enchanted by the mas que un club culture, this sartorial sacrifice saddens me.
7 min: More from Sinclair, who plays it into the Barca area toward Dembele before it’s headed beyond the goal line for a corner. Sinclair takes it but it’s quickly cleared out of danger.
6 min: Sinclair takes on two Barcelona defenders and slaloms around them into the area before he’s dispossessed. A moment of inspiration from the Celtic winger! They’ll need more of those.
4 min: Celtic pressing high up early on, but Barca have kept possession in the minutes since and are probing the hosts from the middle third. A momentary threat as Neymar carries the ball into the area and centers it to Messi, but he leaves it and Celtic clear it safely out of danger.
1 min: Celtic kick off and will attack from left to right in traditional home kits with Barca going from right to left. A deafening sound from the crowd at Parkhead. What atmosphere!
The players are emerging from the tunnel. We should be under way in the next few minutes and will pick it up with minute-by-minute coverage from there.
The teams!
You’ll Never Walk Alone rings through the stands at Celtic Park. Here’s a look at today’s teams.
Barcelona
XI: Ter Stegen, Sergi, Mascherano, Pique, Alba, Gomes, Busquets, Rakitic, Messi, Suarez, Neymar
Subs: Cillessen, Arda, Rafinha, Paco, Denis, Digne, Marlon
Celtic
XI: Gordon, Lustig, Izaguirre, Simunovic, Sviatchenko, Brown, Armstrong, Rogic, McGregor, Sinclair, Dembele
Subs: De Vries, Bitton, Toure, Gamboa, Roberts, Forrest, Henderson
Hello and welcome to today’s group-stage match between Celtic and Barcelona at Parkhead. It wasn’t a particularly pretty scene when these teams met earlier in the competition and the Spanish champions cruised in a 7-0 laugher at the Camp Nou, but Brendan Rodgers has told Celtic they must forget the past and create new memories today:
We can’t live in the past. In order to get a result against a team at this level you need to bring your A-game. You need to play the game of your life and hope you get that bit of luck.
...
They are arguably the best team that’s ever played, with the great players they have and the level they can play at. I was bitterly disappointed how easily we conceded the goals in Barcelona. We gave away disappointing goals at the end which put a shine on the scoreline.
I think two months down the line we’re a better team, we’re a stronger team mentally, we had to grow mentally and we’ve shown we’ve done that.
The game itself, what will it be? It’s probably going to be they’ll have more possession but as individuals and collectively I’d like to think we’ll be much harder and more robust to play against this time.
Celtic will need a win either today or in the group-stage finale against Manchester City for a chance of a compensatory place in the Europa League after Christmas.
Plenty more to come with kickoff roughly a half hour from now.
Bryan will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s Ewan Murray on a Celtic talent who didn’t quite make it:
Tony Watt lasted 80 minutes of the game between Hamilton Academical and Heart of Midlothian on Monday. The only surprise for the 2,339 in attendance was that the Hearts forward featured for that long. Watt could barely have been less effective, just as he could not have looked any less interested.
Watt’s struggle had sadly poetic timing. With Barcelona back in Scotland for a meeting with Celtic, memories are inevitably conjured of 7 November 2012. It was then Watt, as an 18-year-old substitute, burst through before blasting home the crucial second goal as Neil Lennon’s team defeated Barça 2-1. Even for a club so immersed in big occasions, this stood out as one of the finest in Celtic’s history.
Watt left Celtic Park that night with a message from Lennon: “Don’t let this be all you are remembered for.” Lennon wanted the goal to be a springboard. Watt had pace, power and the uncanny ability to keep the ball attached to his boot that separated him from other Scots.
