It was a night for the romantics.

For some, it was Celtic in microcosm under the November floodlights; pride and passion, courage and joy. It was the night an underdog once again delivered a bloody nose to a football aristocracy.

It was the night they made Rod Stewart cry.

For Kelvin Wilson it was the night that will be celebrated as the greatest 90 minutes of his career.

Read more: Make your own memories, Bhoys, says Brendan Rodgers

And yet as the defender walked off the pitch that night having played a significant part in the 2-1 defeat of a Barcelona side who had rolled into Glasgow in 2012 widely lauded as one of the greatest to have graced the modern game and who had not lost away from home in the group stages of the Champions in six seasons, there was nothing more sobering than being hooked for a drug test before he could join the celebrations in the dressing room.

“At Celtic Park you don’t get to go into the dressing room first, you have to head into a small side room and wait,” he explained. “So there was me and Charlie Mulgrew and then we were joined by Xavi and Alexis Sanchez.

“It is a small room so it was all a little bit awkward.

“But they were very gracious. They congratulated us and as Sanchez didn’t have too much English, Xavi did most of the talking.

Read more: Make your own memories, Bhoys, says Brendan Rodgers

“They weren’t going home until the following day so we asked if they would get out for a glass of wine or a beer. They told us there was no way now because they had lost the game.

“They were bracing themselves to be hounded in the Spanish press and they feared that had any of their journalists got wind that they had been out on the town after being beaten by us that they would be annihilated. So not only did we beat them but we effectively sent them into hibernation for a few days.”

In actual fact, the Spanish press focused on the performance not of those in the distinctive Barcelona shirts but on Fraser Forster.

The Celtic keeper was a colossus and repelled much of which the visitors threw at him. ‘La gran muralla’ – ‘the great wall’ – was how they described the performance of the stopper, who is now plying his trade south of the border with Southampton.

And Wilson was quick to echo that, even four years down the line.

“He was outstanding for us,” he enthused. “But then had you gone down our whole team you would have struggled to give anyone less than 9/10.

“We gave it our all. There wasn’t a player on that park for us who had anything left by the end of that game. We gave everything we had; every ounce of sweat, concentration, focus and determination.

“We knew the reputation that Barcelona came to us with. They were at the peak of their game with players in every position who could be described as world-class. As I said, you can’t afford to be intimidated by that or allow yourself to be in awe of it. Not on a football pitch.

“And it is the same for Celtic now. Every player who walks on that pitch needs to be thinking; ‘I’m a 10/10 tonight.”

Wilson is not the only one who would describe that night as the greatest of his career. Lennon said afterwards that he would struggle to top it, while there was a heavy sense of fate in the East End of Glasgow as Celtic delivered a result befitting of their 125th anniversary celebrations.

Wilson recalls that the build-up to the night was calm, with a sense that Celtic were in a win-win situation.

“Neil was laid-back in the days before it,” said the defender, who is currently at Rotherham. “I think we felt that it was one of those very rare Celtic games where no-one expected us to win.

“There was no pressure on us. We didn’t want to come out of it on the back of a heavy defeat but I think Lenny trusted that it wouldn’t the case.

“We all knew what we had to do – and footballers want to win games. They want to be the best they can be and play against the best.

“But in the days after it, we all enjoyed it. As we should have. I still think it is something that we should be proud of and that Celtic should be proud of – this was one of the great teams of the modern era and we found a way to beat them.

“It said so much about us as a team and the unit we had and the belief we had in one another as players and as a unit.

“What always made me laugh was that Lenny used to come in during domestic games at half-time and if we hadn’t been playing well he’d say, “Wake up! It’s not Barcelona or Real Madrid out there…”

“We had a bit of a chuckle about that old line once we’d beaten them.”

The Celtic Park crowd will be up for another Champions League night as they savour the last home game of a campaign they waited three seasons to come around.

Read more: Make your own memories, Bhoys, says Brendan Rodgers

Much was made of the atmosphere inside the old stadium on the night Barcelona lost and while that can be overplayed at times, Wilson believes it plays a significant role in Celtic’s cause.

“No way, it is massive,” he said. “I can hand on heart say I have never played or been in any atmosphere comparable to what Celtic Park is on a big European night.

“Benfica came close when we were over there but even the Nou Camp wasn’t so special to me as what Celtic Park was on those nights.

“It is a major help. Having that behind you well, it is difficult to explain what it does. But it gives such a positive energy. It inspires you. "

Celtic will look for all the inspiration they can get tonight.