Facing Messi, THAT Celtic goal and 'La Gran Muralla' - Victor Wanyama remembers JFK moment against Barcelona

"Where were you when Celtic beat the mighty Barcelona in the Champions League in 2012?"

November 7 2012 is still etched into the hearts and minds of every Celtic supporter who was lucky enough to witness the event. It was the night David topped Goliath and football dreams really did come true as Neil Lennon's men did a number on Tito Vilanova's star-studded outfit.

The Catalans had won the Champions League trophy three times in the previous seven seasons when they descended on Glasgow's East end nine years ago. Spearheaded by the world's best footballer - Lionel Messi - they had also defeated Celtic at the knockout phase four years before in 2008.

However, the La Liga giants hadn't reckoned on the partisan home crowd as some 59,000 crammed into the Roman gladiatorial amphitheatre the locals nicknamed Paradise to celebrate Celtic's 125th birthday. It was a night the stars perfectly aligned as Celtic added another marvellous chapter to their illustrious European history.

Ironically, Celtic's Champions League squad had cost a meagre £7m to assemble whilst Barcelona brought on two substitutes in the match worth a combined total of £70m. Yet Barca were undone by a Celtic super-sub in the shape of Tony Watt - a £50,000 bargain basement purchase from Airdrie!

Former Celtic midfielder Victor Wanyama still gets goosebumps when he recalls the Euro glory night.

The Kenyan rose majestically at the back post to power the Celts in front on 21 minutes. Wanyama looked visibly stunned but not as much as Barcelona. It was as one commentator stated: "The stuff of legend."

Yet Wanyama insists that it was a dream come true for him to be sharing the stage with such renowned world football stars as Xavi and Andres Iniesta.

And he recalled that Celtic joined an exclusive list of five clubs who claimed Barcelona's scalp that season - Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, AC Milan and Bayern Munich being the others.

Wanyama said: "I cannot believe that it is nine years since I scored against Barcelona for Celtic. It is one of my greatest ever memories from my career. Celtic were one of only five clubs to beat Barcelona during that whole campaign.

"I remember that night very well and the atmosphere at Celtic Park was incredible. Only the derby games against Rangers came close to it but that night Celtic were celebrating their 125th birthday and there was something special in the air.

"The Celtic supporters felt it and so too did the players. At home with those fans behind us we knew we could achieve big things and we did it."

Wanyama explained how Lennon had done his homework on the Spaniards and learned that they rarely defended the back post at corner kicks. The rest as they say is history.

Wanyama who is now plying his trade in the MLS with CF Montreal said: "We worked hard on set-pieces and we knew that Barcelona didn't like defending the back post at corners and free-kicks. We felt that we could score from set-pieces and that proved to be the case.

"We had players who could attack the ball very well like Kelvin Wilson, Efe Ambrose, Joe Ledley and Gary Hooper. When I saw the ball coming over I knew if I made contact with my head that it would go in. That's exactly what happened and we had worked on that kind of set-piece play at training.

"My headed goal was the icing on the cake. It doesn't really get any better than scoring against Barcelona in the Champions League for Celtic and winning the game. What a feeling, it was just so special.

"To play against Lionel Messi, Xavi, Iniesta was just a dream come true for somebody like me. To even be on the same pitch as that kind of player was amazing.

"My dreams came true as Celtic won the game and we created a massive piece of history. It was a big thing for us. Not many people can say they beat a Barcelona team that contained the likes of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi.

"Celtic had a good team back then. The squad was hungry for success and we felt that we could compete against everybody.

"I loved my time at Celtic as it was just such a professional club and I wouldn't change it for anything. I loved the club and the supporters were always behind the club. Celtic is a massive family and everybody pushes each other to succeed. We did it all together with the manager, players and the supporters."

It was youngster Watt who would grab the limelight and steal the headlines when he slammed home what proved to be the winner on 81 minutes after he took advantage of a slip by Javier Mascherano and ran through to calmly slot past Victor Valdes.

Despite having 89% of possession, 25 shots and 14 shots on target throughout the game, Lionel Messi would pull a goal back for Barcelona in the 90th minute but not before he had been denied by a string of great stops by the heroics Fraser Forster and the woodwork.

The Celtic custodian was christened 'La Gran Muralla' - the great wall - by Spanish media after his display.

Even Messi himself commented: “The games against Celtic were special and I want to remember them. The performances of Fraser Forster against us were talked about for a long time. There was one game in Scotland where he was not human, it is the best goalkeeping performance I have seen."

Wanyama said: "It was an unbelievable moment for Tony Watt. Coming on and scoring the goal to make it 2-0 and giving us that cushion was sensational.

"He was very young at the time but he took his goal so well. We worked hard on our set-up all week and the manager had told us that we could compete and that we could win.

"We were very close to getting a draw in the Camp Nou in the game against Barcelona away and we were denied a draw because of Jordi Alba's last-minute goal.

"When we came back to Glasgow we felt that we could give a better performance and we showed exactly what we could do. We believed that if we could replicate that performance and allied to a bit more effort we could beat Barcelona.

"Our goalkeeper Fraser Forster was outstanding for us on the night and he made all sorts of headlines in the Spanish media because of what he did. They christened him 'The Great Wall' which was pretty apt. It was just an unforgettable and amazing night."

Wanyama also admitted that he was saddened to see Celtic and Neil Lennon miss out on clinching the coveted 10-in-a-row last season.

The former Tottenham Hotspur star said: "Lenny achieved wonderful things as both a player and a manager for Celtic. I was disappointed that the club did not win the ten straight titles.

"I wanted to see even more history made. I felt really bad and genuinely sad for them but history tells you that Celtic as a club will always bounce back."

However, Wanyama and the Celtic supporters will always have Barcelona.

As manager Neil Lennon famously said: "I can't speak highly enough of their performance. They will go down in the history books of the club as the team that beat probably the best team in the world."

Perhaps then Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova summed it up all up best.

"I don't like to lose, but if we have to lose, let it be this way."

Wanyama's head would nod in agreement.