Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard has insisted that rumours linking him with the Chelsea job are having no effect on him or his players, while appearing to pour cold water upon them.

In the wake of Chelsea's recent Carling Cup final defeat to Tottenham Hotspur there has been speculation that the Stamford Bridge club are targeting the former Netherlands international as a replacement for manager Avram Grant.

"I am aware of the rumours but they are that - rumours - and they have not affected me or my team," Rijkaard said.

"Right now I am just concentrating on getting results on the pitch.

"I am not thinking about anything else at the moment."

Barcelona suffered their first defeat in 16 games when they lost 4-2 at Atletico Madrid on Saturday night, leaving them five points behind Liga leaders Real Madrid.

They also needed a late Xavi equaliser to earn them a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final against Valencia in the Camp Nou last week.

The Catalan side face Celtic in a second-round second leg of the Champions League on Tuesday evening.

Barcelona are strong favourites to get through after a 3-2 triumph in the first leg at Celtic Park; however Rijkaard insisted that the tie is still there to be won.

"I don't think we can relax: there is still a game to be played," he said. "We respect Celtic. They are a good team who will be looking to play well, but we need to finish the job.

"It is important that the public see a good game and we always try to play as well as we can, but the most important thing is to qualify."

Barcelona skipper Carles Puyol was also keen to stress the tie is not yet decided and pinpointed Hoops' wide-man Aiden McGeady as the main Celtic threat.

"The tie is not over - no-one in our squad is thinking like that," the defender said. "There are still 90 minutes to be played.

"We have a lot of respect for our opponents and in football anything can happen. We are expecting a difficult match against an aggressive Celtic team and we need to match their intensity and energy.

"We have to move the ball quickly and concentrate on not making mistakes.

"McGeady is a great player for them. I hope we can control him so he doesn't cause us any damage.

"But we are in good spirits, and although we didn't play well in the last match against Atletico, that was an exception."

TeamTalk / Eurosport