‘Impossible’ for Barcelona to fail against Celtic says Andres Iniesta

Published on 22/10/2012 11:26

BARCELONA star Andres Iniesta cannot see Celtic springing an upset in Tuesday night’s Champions League clash at the Nou Camp.

• Barcelona play Celtic in their Champions League Group G match

• Andres Iniesta confident but wary of Celtic challenge

The man who scored Spain’s World Cup winning goal in 2010 insists the La Liga side’s technical ability will be too much for the Scottish champions to contend with.

Iniesta also believes his team’s narrow home win against Spartak Moscow combined with their battling 5-4 win against Deportivo La Coruna at the weekend will stand them in good stead.

Iniesta said: “Barcelona are superior to Celtic and we have the experience with Spartak. We saw how an error changed the game and on Tuesday we will be 100 per cent concentrated.

The Spanish star knows all about the threat posed by Greece striker Georgios Samaras, but stressed that Barcelona will have done their homework about the whole of the Celtic team.

“People speak about Samaras, but Celtic showed in Moscow they possess a lot of players who can win matches,” he said. “But we got our warning against Spartak and now it is impossible to fail against Celtic.”

Iniesta underlined Barcelona’s European ambitions, while insisting that Neil Lennon’s side will pose a challenge over the next two games.

He said: “One of our main ambitions is to win the Champions League.

“We are looking to wrap up qualification from our group so we can focus on other domestic objectives. We know if we can beat Celtic it would put us in a good position at the top of the group and would give us a bit of breathing space.

“I know Celtic came through the qualifying rounds and won’t be an easy rival.

“Scottish teams normally play quite conservatively and it isn’t an easy system to break down.”