Barcelona assistant coach Johan Neeskens dampened down the hype surrounding Celtic midfielder Aiden McGeady ahead of Wednesday night's Champions League meeting at Parkhead.

McGeady's performances for the Scottish champions this season, especially since the turn of the year, have left team-mates, fans and many pundits vocal in their admiration for the Republic of Ireland international.

Hoops defender Gary Caldwell claimed McGeady could "play anywhere he wants in the future" as he compared the 21-year-old favourably with all of the big-name Barca stars.

But former Holland international Neeskens was more circumspect in his evaluation of the Parkhead midfielder.

Asked if he thought McGeady had the ability to perhaps play at the Nou Camp one day, he said: "It is very difficult to say if a player has the quality to play for Barcelona.

"He is a very good player and he has demonstrated it in the Celtic team, and of course every player of his age can improve.

"He is an interesting player but the players that we have right now at Barcelona are interesting and we are happy with them.

"So I don't want to talk about the future, I just want to talk about tonight.

"It is a team game with Celtic and they are a very strong team.

"They have had good results at home in the Champions League against AC Milan, Benfica and Shakhtar Donetsk.

"They scored lots of goals and have strong players like McGeady, (Shunsuke) Nakamura, (Jan) Vennegoor of Hesselink and Scott McDonald.

"So when they attack, they have qualities that can hurt us but we will do our best to play our game."

Barcelona star Deco claimed Celtic are a better side than the Rangers team the Catalan club faced in the group stages of the Champions League earlier in the season.

But asked if the Parkhead outfit could be at their most dangerous from the free-kicks of Nakamura, which have proved to be a potent weapon for Gordon Strachan's men in Europe, the former Porto midfielder said: "No, I don't think so.

"But they have a strong, direct game with players who will play until the last minute to get a result."

Rumours circulated that Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho will start on the bench on Wednesday night but Neeskens - taking the pre-match press conference in the absence of head coach Frank Rijkaard, who is serving a touchline ban - would not be drawn on the likely Barcelona line-up.

He said: "We are not going to change the way we play but I will not tell you who is going to be playing.

"Everyone who travelled over is ready to play."

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