Tata Martino has outlined that Barcelona will not use Lionel Messi’s absence as an excuse to drop performance levels against Celtic.
The Catalans are preparing for tonight’s Champions League fixture without their No 10, after he was ruled out at the weekend for a period of two to three weeks with a thigh injury.
“[Lionel] Messi is the best player in the world but we have other great players and his absence can't be an excuse if we don't get a good result,” determined Martino to reporters.
“I'm not sure his absence is a test for other players. We've had other games without Messi in the past. We have other excellent players in our team.”
This week’s fixture at Celtic Park is a rematch between the teams from last season’s Champions League, when Celtic won in Scotland 2-1 against Tito Vilanova’s Barca side.
“You're all assuming that [Tuesday’s] game will be similar from last year's but we don't know. We'll have to be careful with the long ball and be careful not to give away the ball too easily.
“We're bringing young players from the B team because we need centre-backs because of injuries – [Javier] Mascherano, [Carles] Puyol and [Jordi] Alba are injured so we need to find solutions.
“If we keep the ball and focus, we won't concede set pieces where they are very dangerous – they are good in the air and have a great physical presence because they are taller than our players.
“I don't particularly believe in revenge in football. Barca players are always expected to do well, they are scrutinised by everybody.
“So we want to have a good game tomorrow. I'm still trying to adapt as Barcelona manager. We're getting great results but it's also true we need to play better football.”
