One of Kieran Tierney’s earliest football memories is of watching Celtic beat Blackburn at Ewood Park in the autumn of 2002 in the UEFA Cup.
Now the 19-year-old hopes to go one better by making a significant impact in the group stages of the Champions League.
The Hoops were drawn in an enticing group last night when they were put against Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach – with the prospect of the household names those games will entail resulting in Tierney rubbing his eyes.
Read more: Henrik Larsson tells Celtic class of 2016 to believe in Champions League
“It is madness,” said Tierney. “It is 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 as well.”
Read more: Larsson's delight as Celtic and Barcelona lock horns again in the UEFA Champions League
If he wasn’t playing in the matches, Tierney, like his father, Michael, would be watching them.
Celtic have drawn Barcelona six times in 12 years in Europe – five times in the Champions League and once in the UEFA Cup – but the difference for Tierney this time is that he gets to wear the jersey.
“Yes, I was always there, when Nakamura scored his free kick, I was there for that game, that was probably the best memory, then Barcelona after that,” said Tierney. “Just going to the games, coming into school, you were so excited, you couldn't concentrate when it was champions League night.
“I have only experienced the draws as a fan, so it was completely different for me.”
It is indicative of Tierney’s youth that he watched as a ball-boy the last time Celtic played Barcelona in 2012 when goals from Victor Wanyama and Tony Watt gave the Hoops a 2-1 win in Glasgow under Neil Lennon.
But the youngster has come a significant way in the intervening four years.
“I was sitting just in front of the Green Brigade when Victor Wanyama scored,” he said. “He scored and ran towards me before checking away at the last minute.
“My earliest memory of European football would be Seville. That was extraordinary for Celtic 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’m still raging with my dad that he didn’t take me to Seville. 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 ten 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. I didn’t even know what the score was!”
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here