You can tell when there’s a big Celtic game on the horizon – the Transfer Tavern is always transformed into a white and green cove of activity!

On Tuesday, Brendan Rodgers takes his Hoops side to the Nou Camp to take on the mighty Barcelona in their opening Champions League group game.

After months of qualifying that has taken Celtic from Israel to Kazakhstan, they’ve finally made it to the knockout rounds and they’ve drawn a tough group.

Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach make up the rest of Group C but ahead of the trip to Spain, not many people are giving Celtic much chance of bringing home all three points.

But here at the Transfer Tavern, we’re an optimistic bunch and we’d like to think the Bhoys definitely have enough to overcome the Catalonian giants.

So with that in mind, here’s THREE reasons why Celtic can definitely beat Barcelona…

Brendan Rodgers has a point to prove

After a tough spell at Liverpool, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has a real point to prove on the grand stage with Celtic.

In the 2014/2015 season with the Reds, Rodgers’ Liverpool side were knocked out of the Champions League after drawing in their final group game against FC Basel.

They dropped into the Europa League and were quickly knocked out of the second string competition too, losing 5-4 on penalties to Turkish giants Besiktas.

A season later Rodgers was sacked and his reputation in Europe was ruined.

This will be the biggest chance of his career to prove the doubters wrong and show he can bring his team success.

Celtic have some top players on their books

To say Celtic have some top players on their books is an understatement.

Former Wolves striker Leigh Griffiths is in the form of his life having scored forty times last season and seven in nine this time out, whilst Australian attacker Tom Rogic has started well too.

Rodgers has brought in the likes of Scott Sinclair, Christian Gamboa, Kolo Toure and Dorus De Vries this summer and their squad is looking strong.

Barcelona squeezed past Bilbao in their first game of the season before thrashing Real Betis 6-2 the week after. Their form is fluctuating and this could be a great time to face them.

Anything can happen in football

This might be a bit of a kop-out for some but in football, anything can happen.

From Greece winning the Euros, North Korea beating Italy in the 1966 World Cup and Artmedia Petrzalka beating the Hoops 5-0 in 2005, it shows that anything really can happen on the day.

When Celtic drew Slovakian champions Artmedia in the preliminary rounds of the Champions League back in 2005, they would have been quietly confident.

But they came away from Bratislava with a humiliating 5-0 defeat and headlines that remained for months.

Celtic have been on the receiving end of a European shock before and there’s no reason why they can’t go to the Nou Camp and get a result this time round.