PAUL CADDIS endured a remarkable 24 hours after making his debut for Celtic in the Champions League.
The right-back was faced with marking Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi as the Scottish side took on Barcelona in 2008 on his first game as a 20-year-old.
Scottish News and SportAS a young pro Paul Caddis made his debut for Celtic against Barcelona[/caption]
Youtube – Under the coshThe next day Caddis was in the papers for the wrong reasons[/caption]
But less than a day after his highs on the pitch he hit the lows of being at the centre of a media storm.
During the game, Caddis, now 35, understandably struggled to contain the world class talent managed by Pep Guardiola that would go on to win a famous sextuple.
Celtic gave a good account of themselves as they battled to a 3-2 defeat at Celtic Park.
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink opened the scoring before a quick equaliser from Messi.
Barry Robson gave the Scottish giants hope before Thierry Henry and Messi completed a comeback win for the LaLiga giants.
Speaking about the game on the Under the Cosh podcast, Caddis said: “I knew regardless of what I did, if I got abused, they [team and fans] would look after me for being a young lad.
“But if I did alright I had everything to gain so I was fine.
“To play against them was a different level. The boss hammered me at half-time, stating ‘can you not see those f****** balls being diag-d onto Ronaldhinho’s toe?’
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“Shunsuke Nakamura was brilliant going forward but gave me no help defensively so it was just [Eric] Abidal overlapping me for fun – I was all over the gaff. But what an experience.
“Directly against Ronaldinho and all. Strongest a*** I have ever f****** felt. As soon as the ball came in, the first thing he done was bang [back into you].
“By the time I’d recovered from being winded, the ball was miles away.”
However, the excitement of making his home debut came crashing down the next day as the Scotsman was accused of fathering a woman’s unborn child in a newspaper story, which he completely denied.
Caddis explained: “I played on the Tuesday night but on the Wednesday morning I was on the front page and the back page on the same day.
“Some girl had come out and said I had fathered her child, which was a load of s***.
“I was looking at the back page buzzing, saying ‘look at that picture of me and Ronaldinho,’ then looking at the back page seeing a munter in the front saying I was…
“[The paper] had the story ready for about six weeks. It was a load of s*** but she sold this dream to the papers and they printed it.
“I had to do a DNA test, at the time she made me think [the baby was mine] but three months later it turned out it wasn’t.”
Caddis would go on to make 22 appearances for Celtic before leaving the club and having spells in the lower leagues of English football.
He is now working as the manager of the National League North side Hereford.