Messi downplays role in Barca success

Lionel Messi’s prodigious talent is matched by his startling humility, a fact he underlined again on Thursday when he denied that Barcelona’s fate is determined by his presence in the team.

“It’s going to be a different game than the Nou Camp”, said Enrique. Barcelona, Monaco and Leicester City are all confirmed as group winners but former winners Bayern Munich and Porto can not top their groups.

In Messi’s eyes, tactical discipline and team structure are more important than individual talent.

“It’s how Barcelona get a lot of their goals so my goalkeeping coach had me well prepped for that kind of thing to happen”.

“Celtic tried to make life hard for us with very high pressing, but we were able to get the ball, we played without problems and gradually we found it easier”. However, Leo is always ready to play.

“Marlon has just come from Brazil, so it’s good to give him some time”.

Celtic have largely done well at home, the “Tony Watt game” the obvious example, and even those defeats in Glasgow have carried with them a touch of misfortune if you couldn’t really say Barcelona didn’t deserve to win.

Despite their huge success in Scotland, Celtic have only won the treble on three occasions in their history with the last coming in the 2000/01 season under Rodgers’ fellow Northern Irishman Martin O’Neill. ‘I’m in the best club in the world, it doesn’t depend on one player.

“We know the level now, it gets better every year”.

The Catalans were beaten 2-1 by promoted Alaves in September after Luis Enrique made seven changes to his team, including resting Suarez and Messi, and they lost 4-3 at Celta Vigo when Messi was injured and Andres Iniesta was rested from the start. “What Luis is brilliant at is around the box he provokes the defenders”, Rodgers said.

Luis Enrique also replaced Neymar with 13 minutes to go after the Brazilian star was booked following a rift with Celtic right-back Mikael Lustig, prompting jeers of the home fans as he walked towards the bench.

“They have huge quality, but they didn’t have as near so many chances as what you would normally see in the games they play, so I was very pleased with the performance”.