No major lineup surprises from either side at Celtic Park, but the home side have gotten a boost as their in-doubt forward Georgios Samaras will start for the first time since he left the last match against Barcelona with an ankle injury.
Celtic vs. Barcelona: Lineups
The big news for Celtic is that Samaras is able to start, of course he might not be able to go the full 90 minutes but having him in the lineup is a big boost for Neil Lennon. Samaras was a big part of Celtic’s near-success at the Camp Nou and having the big Greek striker on the pitch makes a difference. With Gary Hooper out, Miku replaces him in the lineup.
Tito Vilanova decided to play it safe and start Marc Barta over Gerard Piqué (who is on the bench). Considering is just returning from an extended injury absence and it's definitely not match fit, it's a smart move. It also helped that Barta and Javier Mascherano played extremely well against Celtic two weeks ago. Alex Song replaces Sergio Busquets as the deep defensive midfielder as Busquets is still serving a suspension.
Celtic starting lineup (4-4-1-1): Fraser Forster; Mikael Lustig, Efe Ambrose, Kelvin Wilson, Adam Matthews; Kris Commons, Victor Wanyama, Joe Ledley, Charlie Mulgrew; Miku, Georgios Samaras.
Barcelona starting lineup (4-3-3): Víctor Valdés; Dani Alves, Marc Bartra, Javier Mascherano, Jordi Alba; Alex Song, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta; Pedro Rodríguez, Lionel Messi, Alexis Sánchez.
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