Celtic draw Juventus in the Champions League

NEIL Lennon’s side have been paired against Serie A side Juventus in the last 16 draw of the Champions League.

By The Newsroom Friday, 21st December 2012, 12:12 am

Following today’s draw in Nyon, the home tie at Parkhead will be played on February 12 with the away led contested on March 6.

The new Juventus Stadium, which opened in 2011, has a capacity of 41,000 with Celtic expected to allocated 2,000 tickets, according to FIFA’s ticket allocation rules.

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Celtic boss Neil Lennon called his side’s draw against Juventus “a beauty” but very tough.

Lennon said: “Well in terms of glamour it’s a beauty. Juventus are one of the great traditional European teams. They’re current Italian champions and finished the group stage very strongly. So in terms of glamour it’s great, in terms of qualification it is going to very tough, but it could have been any of the other teams and it would have been just as tough.

“We will take it as it comes, we’re looking forward to the games now and I’m sure our supporters will be as well.

“We believe over two games anything is possible. Juventus are littered with world-class stars and have been very consistent over the last 18 months and have got a great winning mentality, but so have we.

“To come through the group as impressively as we did, you just never know where you’ll be in a month or two’s time in terms of fitness and form.”

Celtic finished second in their qualifying group behind Barcelona having narrowing lost to the Catalans in the Nou Camp before recording a memorable 2 - 1 win over the La Liga side at Parkhead.

Neil Lennon’s side finished on ten points ahead of both Benfica and Spartak Moscow.

Neil Lennon’s men enjoyed an unforgettable victory over Barca at Parkhead having run the Spanish giants close in Camp Nou, with Lawwell admitting that they will need to emulate those displays if they are to overcome Juventus. the odds by emerging from a testing group featuring Barcelona, Benfica and Spartak Moscow.

Neil Lennon’s men enjoyed an unforgettable victory over Barca at Parkhead having run the Spanish giants close in Camp Nou, with Lawwell admitting that they will need to emulate those displays if they are to overcome Juventus.

Celtic chief excutive Peter Lawwell told Sky Sports: “We believe we are one of the top European clubs in everything we do. Celtic should be at this level, not just for the revenue but in terms of the profile and exposure for the club.

“To get back in after two or three years has been magnificent. We go into this game with a degree of confidence. We will be ready. We have done magnificently well and I’m sure we will give a great account of ourselves.

“We have beaten the best both at home and away. It is a formidable task but we go into the game with great confidence and we will see what happens.

“We have shown we can do it, we have had some great results. It will need that level of performance, but who is to say we can’t do that.

“We are delighted to be flying the flag for Scottish football, which has taken a bit of a battering recently.”

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

Champions League, October, 2001

Celtic 4 - 3 Juventus

Champions League, September 2001

Juventus 3 - 2 Celtic

European Cup, September 1981

Juventus 2 - 0 Celtic

European Cup, September 1981

Celtic 1 - 0 Juventus

PROFILE: JUVENTUS

Coach: Antonio Conte.

Star man: Arturo Vidal.

Previous best in CL/European Cup: Winners 1985, 1996.

Chances: Serie A champions sneaked into last 16 by winning final group game and will be expected to step it up when

European competition resumes in February.

Did you know? Juve’s original strip was pink, back in 1897. They adopted their new colours six years later when

Turin-based Englishman John Savage acquired a set of black and white vertical striped shirts from a Notts County-supporting friend.

DRAW IN FULL

Celtic v Juventus

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Valencia CF v PSG

Real Madrid v Manchester United

AC Milan v FC Barcelona

Shakhtar Donetsk v Borussia Dortmund

Arsenal v Bayern Munich