The Champions League begins on Tuesdayevening and one of the night's most intriguing matches seesCeltic face the mighty Barcelona at Camp Nou.
As reported by theDaily Mail, despitethe pressure that comes with European football's premier competition,Barca manager Luis Enrique still managed to find thetime to share afew kind words about his opposing manager Brendan Rodgers.
'˜I like Brendan as a coach.I like his ideas. I knew him from before when I met him at the Mini Estadi watching Barca B.He's a lover of good football, he plays an attractive style and I like coaches who attack.''
Enrique was also quick to shower praise on Rodgers' team, who are fresh of a 5-1 demolition of bitter rivalsRangers over the weekend.
˜'Celtic have talented players,' said Enrique. ˜Dembele scored his three goals against Rangers and in (Scott) Sinclair and (Patrick) Roberts, they have some high-quality players who can cause us problems.''
Enrique continued:
''Celtic is an historic club. They are back in the Champions League and have achieved the right results.There were other teams in pot 4 who it would have been less complicated for us to draw. But we are happy to play Celtic and later in the group we will go to one of the best stadiums in Europe, in terms of atmosphere.''
It could be argued that the Champions League opener couldn't have come at a better time for Enrique and his players following a shock 2-1home defeat in La Liga to newly-promoted Alaves over the weekend - with Barcelona looking to right some wrongs, the Spanish club will perhaps see Tuesday'sgame as a welcome distraction.
''We have things to improve and work on,'' Enrique admitted.''That's what happens after every defeat.The objective is to win the next game. Iwas clear after the Alaves game. I explained what I thought had happened and I have assessed it since. We know what we have to work on to try and achieve a good result.''
After initially resting Messi and Suarez for the game against Alaves, the two star forwards will surely start, combing with Neymar to form European football's most feared forward line.
Celtic beware.