Brendan Rodgers has piled the praise on Luis Suarez ahead of Celtic’s Champions League game against Barcelona.
Advertisement
He said: “First of all, when you speak about Luis Suarez you have to speak about the man”.
Brendan Rodgers ‘ side kick off their Group C campaign in one of world football’s most iconic stadia – the Camp Nou.
“He’s humble and works tirelessly”. I had the pleasure of working with Luis for two years. I am happy to play them here and looking forward to going to one of the best stadiums in Europe.
“To stop him is very, very hard, like all world-class players that you face, they always find the space”, he added.
“The stadium is almost full domestically and he has brought the big nights back to Celtic and I think the fans are just happy they are there”.
“I know from working with Luis he used to occupy a four or five-man defence on his own, so if you put Neymar and Messi into that it is a very hard task”.
“You can have all the tactical ideas, you can set up systems, you can park two double-decker buses in front of the goal, I think that some of the best players in the world will always find space”.
Lionel Messi (groin) and Andres Iniesta (knee) came off the bench against Alaves and are fit to start against Celtic.
Despite respecting Suarez and his team-mates, Rodgers played down any notion that the match against Barcelona was a “free game” for the Hoops, who travel with confidence and with the gratitude of their fans after a 5-1 thrashing of Old Firm rival Rangers on Saturday.
“We want to come and enjoy it but we want to come and get a result”.
“We talk after every game to correct things and to reinforce other aspects but what happens in those meetings is only important for the players and staff”, he told a news conference on Monday.
Advertisement
The Frenchman scored a late victor against Astana to help the Hoops into the Champions League play-off – from where they qualified for the group stage into a pool featuring Barcelona and Manchester City – but he would not have been playing against Rangers if Leigh Griffiths had recovered from a hamstring injury.
