GLASGOW (AFP) - Gordon Strachan has tipped Barcelona for the Champions League - but the Celtic manager also believes his side can knock them out in the last 16 of the competition.

Ahead of the first leg between the sides in Glasgow on Wednesday, the Spanish superstars - who lifted the trophy in 2006 - will be odds on favourites to win through to the quarter finals of Europe's premier club competition.

Strachan accepts his side are underdogs and thinks Frank Rijkaard's Barca are good enough to go all the way to lift the trophy in Moscow in May.

However, the Celtic boss is confident that if his players believe in themselves, and avoid making silly mistakes, they can cause a major upset.

"We are playing against the potential winners of this competition and we have to remember that," said Strachan.

"There's no way we can go and play like headless chickens, although sometimes playing that way can worry the opposition.

"We need to be prepared for the fact there will be times Barcelona will have a lot of the ball and at those times we will have to work hard to keep our shape.

"But we can cause problems when we get the ball. I want my players to show no fear when we are in possession, but be fearful when we lose the ball.

"We must make Barcelona work hard for any chances they get and then hope we can make the most of our own opportunities."

Celtic have one of the best home records of any side in the Champions League.

Although they lost all three of their matches away from home in this season's Group D, they won all their games in Glasgow against Benfica, Shakhtar Donetsk and, most impressively, Champion League holders AC Milan.

In fact, there is only one side which has ever beaten Celtic on their own patch in the Champions League.

Of course, that team was Barcelona, who won 3-1 in September 2004, with a certain Swedish striker called Henrik Larsson scoring the third goal on his return to Parkhead.

However, in front of almost 62,000 passionate Celtic supporters, the Scottish champions will be confident of adding another major scalp to their collection.

Teams such as Manchester United, Juventus and Benfica have all been defeated in Champions League matches at Celtic Park in recent seasons.

And the last time Celtic and Barcelona met in the knock-out stage of a competition it was the Scottish side who triumphed, winning 1-0 in Glasgow and drawing 0-0 at the Nou Camp in the fourth round of the UEFA Cup.

In Barcelona's run to this stage of the competition they played Rangers in group E, drawing 0-0 at Ibrox and winning 2-0 at home.

The Catalan side's Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi was not impressed with the Ibrox team's style, labelling it "anti-football", but Barca boss Rijkaard does not expect similar tactics from Celtic.

He said: "Celtic stands for a football culture and a way of playing that is not common in Britain. They place the emphasis on attack, like Arsenal and Manchester United.

"I think it will be a nice match, although that complicates things for me.

"We cannot afford to make a mistake as we know Celtic are capable of surprising us and securing a good result to take into the second leg."

Celtic will be without midfielder Scott Brown, who is suspended for the first leg, and German right-back Andreas Hinkel is cup-tied after moving from Seville in January.

Barcelona's Cameroonian Samuel Eto'o has been named in their squad for Wednesday's game - having recovered from a thigh injury.