Olympique Lyon v Celtic, Stade Gerland, 7.45There will be triumph or tragedy where the Rhone and Saone converge here tonight. The top two in the tightest of groups meet with only one able to progress to the knockout phase.
"If this competition is the holy grail of world club football then we don't want to give it up lightly," offered Martin O'Neill. "We will strive to break a few barriers."
And exorcise a few demons. The rhetoric was bullish yesterday, primed with an optimism to match that of the travelling supporters swarming into France's second city. Most of the talk was of making history, though it is the past which still nags - for all the startling successes gleaned away from Glasgow in last year's UEFA Cup, Celtic have yet to gain a point from their travels in two campaigns in this competition.
If they are to become the first Scottish team to venture beyond Christmas in the Champions League under its new format - and a stalemate here would do - that sorry statistic must be consigned to history. Defeat to Lyon, beaten 2-0 at Parkhead in the autumn, could deny the Scots even entry to the UEFA Cup, dragging them from group leaders to bottom should Bayern Munich draw in Anderlecht.
"There's a long evening ahead of us," said O'Neill, his enthusiasm unchecked even by untimely injuries which will rob him of first-choice players in Didier Agathe and Jackie McNamara, with Alan Thompson suspended.
"To reach the final 16 would be a terrific achievement. This is where all the big teams want to be and this is what we aspire to. But we must focus, concentrate and play our own game. The Celtic way is to attack."
Henrik Larsson, as ever, will be integral to that philosophy, but for the Swedish striker more than most this will be a poignant occasion. It is four years since he challenged the Lyon defender Serge Blanc 19 minutes into the second leg of a UEFA Cup tie in this arena and sustained a double compound fracture of his left leg. The limb was limp at its base, the shin-pad and bone jutting horrifically through his sock, sparking fears that this was an injury which could end his career.
As it was, Larsson missed the remainder of that season, and the only real casualty in his absence was the manager, John Barnes. Celtic lost the league to Rangers by 21 points and their fledgling coach lost his job.
Celtic can ill afford their talisman to be distracted. Lyon, the French champions over the past two years, are stuttering six points adrift of the leaders Monaco this time around but they remain daunting opponents.
Theirs was the more polished display in the opening salvos at Parkhead, even if they were swept aside ruthlessly after the interval.
In Giovane Elber they have a striker of quality, even if he has endured heckling from the Lyonnais in recent weeks. The Brazilian is attempting to fill the void left by his compatriot Sonny Anderson in the summer and, though it was his goal which defeated his former club Bayern Munich earlier in the group, he is labouring in a rare dearth of form.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
OLYMPIQUE LYON (4-2-3-1): Coupet; Deflandre, Cacapa, Edmilson, Reveillere; Diarra, Juninho; Govou, Luyindula, Malouda; Elber.
CELTIC (3-4-1-2, probable): Hedman; Mjallby, Balde, Varga; Miller, Lennon, Petrov, Gray; Sutton; Larsson, Hartson.
Referee: U Meier (Switzerland).
