How do you go from losing 2-0 to Kilmarnock and drawing 2-2 with Dundee Utd to beating arguably the best team the world has ever seen in just three days? For the last 24 hours this question has been going in circles round my head. It was hard to believe my eyes when, a fortnight ago, I witnessed my beloved Celtic go ahead at the Nou Camp only to suffer the last-minute heartbreak of David Villa’s injury-time winner. This had been our chance. And in all seriousness, I wasn’t upset that we had blown it. The two goals Celtic had conceded were unpreventable. Indeed, you have to go back to April of this year to find the last time Barca went through a whole 90 minutes without scoring. And yet… And yet.

And yet as the famous Champions League theme blared out of the speakers at Parkhead I found myself hoping, willing the impossible to happen. As Victor Wanyama rose above Jordi Alba to put away the first goal I still found myself thinking, ‘No, surely not. Not against this Barcelona team.’ Even as Tony Watts doubled the lead with just 9 minutes to go my thoughts were along the lines of, ‘That’s 9 minutes too many.’ And as Lionel Messi paved the way for the most intense two minutes of my football-fandom it seemed as if Barca were already ahead, and Celtic out of the Champions League. And yet… And yet, just days after the 125^th birthday of the club, the final whistle blew to secure what is almost certainly the second biggest win of the club’s history.

As a fan, it was impossible to believe it until that moment. It is always important, in football, to know your team’s place in perspective. And for some time now, Celtic have not been within the upper-echelons of the world’s teams, having not had a truly ‘world-class’ player since Henrik Larsson left in 2004. Scottish football has had to accept its place among the likes of the Austrian and Belgian leagues rather than so much the Portuguese and Dutch with which it once dwelt. However, there are times in football where destiny (and this is not a word I apply often) just seems to be on your team’s side, and Wednesday was one of those nights.

From the first minute Celtic were on the back foot, Messi almost scoring within a matter of seconds. And from then on it is impossible to argue that Celtic were doing anything other than ‘parking the bus’ but sometimes that is all a team can do. Chelsea were highly criticised in last season’s semi-finals for employing the same tactic, but when playing a team like Barca, it seems like often the choice is between parking the bus or losing. You simply cannot play Barca at their own game and come out on top, and this is something team after team after team have been steadily realising in La Liga for the past three or four seasons. It seems nonsensical to criticise a team for simply doing everything in their power not to lose. And in terms of defensive play Celtic must be given the credit they deserve. Man of the Match, Fraser Forster, had one of the best goalkeeping displays of any keeper this season so far, a fingertip save to  a Messi shot destined for the top corner being a highlight. But mention must also be given to Kelvin Wilson and Efe Ambrose in the central defence who at many times had to simply resort to last ditch clearances to the halfway line so they could have just a few seconds rest off the ball.

After the match Neil Lennon summed up the gulf in class between the two sides well when he said, “Tito Vilanova can bring on David Villa and Cesc Fabregas and I bring on an 18-year-old kid who cost £50,000 from Airdrie." But of those three players, only one of them got on the score sheet last night. Just ten minutes into his Champions League debut and Tony Watt scored his first European goal, and sixth of the season for Celtic. Ultimately, Messi’s ninetieth minute tap-in meant little more than a few degrees more tension for the closing minutes, which only really added to the ecstasy when the final whistle eventually came.

Celtic now sit second in the group with seven points, with a trip to Lisbon and a home game against Spartak Moscow remaining. Realistically, Celtic will only need three points from these final two games in order to progress to the Last 16 for the first time since 2008 (where they were knocked out by Barcelona, incidentally). The emotion of the night was in evidence on the face of each of the players, on the face of the manager and of every single fan inside Celtic Park that night, perhaps most notably Rod Stewart who was visibly crying. Whether they progress or not, the night of the 7^th November, 2012 will go down in the history books. The night Celtic achieved the impossible. The night Celtic beat the best team in the world.