Lionel Messi’s international retirement sent broadcasters scrambling for his greatest hits, but STV Sport’s version of events had a Celtic-shaped hole in it.
Celtic supporters were quick to spot what STV Sport left out of its coverage of Lionel Messi’s retirement from international football, and once you see it, it’s hard to unsee. The report, published on September 1, recalled Messi’s most recent trip to Celtic Park in 2016. It made no mention of the night four years earlier when Neil Lennon’s Celtic actually beat him.
STV’s package noted that Messi trained and played at Celtic Park in 2016, and that he scored twice as Barcelona beat Celtic 2-0 that night. Both of those things are true. But for a support that has lived through every twist of Celtic’s Champions League relationship with Barcelona, framing Messi’s Scottish story around a defeat while ignoring the famous win felt like an odd editorial choice.
The Night Celtic Beat Messi’s Barcelona
Messi’s history in Scotland runs deeper than one visit. He first appeared at Celtic Park as a 20-year-old in 2008, scoring twice as Barcelona edged a thrilling Champions League tie 3-2. It was an early glimpse of the player he would become, and Celtic supporters who were there still talk about it.
Four years later came the night that actually matters most from a Celtic perspective. In November 2012, Lennon’s side produced a famous 2-1 victory over Barcelona at Celtic Park, one of the great European nights in the club’s modern history. Messi scored Barcelona’s consolation goal that evening – just five days after the birth of his first son Thiago, making it his first goal as a father, a detail that has followed that match into folklore ever since.
His final appearance on Scottish soil came in 2016, the game STV chose to lead with, when his double sealed a 2-0 Barcelona win. According to the primary reporting, Messi played in Scotland six times across his career and faced Celtic on three separate occasions, with a further outing against Rangers at Ibrox in 2007 and friendlies against Hibs and Dundee United thrown in for good measure.
Lionel Messi celebrates scoring for Barcelona against Celtic at Celtic Park on November 23, 2016.
Why The Omission Stung
None of what STV reported was factually wrong – that’s exactly why the omission is so noticeable. Leaving out 2012 while highlighting 2016 tells a one-sided version of Messi’s Celtic Park history, one where Celtic only ever lost to him. It’s the kind of framing that would never survive scrutiny from anyone who actually watched both matches.
Celtic’s European nights against Barcelona sit alongside some of the club’s most memorable continental fixtures, the sort of occasions that get revisited whenever the wider story of Celtic in Europe comes up. The 2012 win over a Messi-inspired Barcelona belongs firmly in that conversation, and supporters were right to say so when STV’s retrospective skipped straight past it.
Mon The Hoops.
