Celtic v Barcelona: If the players adopt as bullish an approach to Barcelona's visit as their manager, Gordon Strachan, then Celtic need not worry. In pointing to a record which shows only a single home defeat in 16 outings in the Champions League - albeit at the hands of tonight's opponents in 2004 - Strachan yesterday insisted his team have no cause to be in awe of their Catalan visitors.

"Obviously there has been a lot of talk about Barcelona's great players and they are absolutely fantastic players," Strachan said. "When you look at their squad and see the players who can't even get into the team, it's just wonderful.

"But we feel we have good footballers and we can't just sit back and try to hit them on the break. If you look back over the last couple of years, you'll see we have come up against some terrific players. We've faced Kaka, Seedorf, Inzaghi, Scholes, Ronaldo, Pirlo - you can go on and on; but the players have handled it. We won't be gung-ho, but we will give our players a platform to go out and play football."

His optimism is shared by central defender Gary Caldwell, who believes Celtic have, in Aiden McGeady, a player whose creativity rivals any of tonight's opponents. "You can get caught up with names, and they are all tremendous players," said Caldwell, "but their names are probably bigger than the players they are, if you know what I mean. Aiden has been sensational for us this year and he could be as big a threat to them as any of their big names are to us. It's up to us to make sure he gets the ball in the right places, so he can show what he's capable of."

Almost every match Celtic have played in this season's Champions League has been preceded by some form of defensive worry for Strachan, and this encounter has proved no different. Andreas Hinkel, the right-back signed last month from Sevilla, is ineligible while Jean-Joel Perrier-Doumbe and Mark Wilson remain injured. The manager will therefore make what appears a straight choice between Paul Hartley and the 19-year-old Paul Caddis for that position, although Hartley may be used in midfield with Scott Brown suspended.

Barca, having cut Real Madrid's lead at the top of the Primera Liga to five points at the weekend, are expected to include Samuel Eto'o from the start at Parkhead for the first time since playing for Cameroon in the African Cup of Nations.

Yet Johan Neeskens, Barcelona's assistant manager, insists Eto'o's return should not overshadow his team's preparations. "Eto'o has got ability and of course we are glad he is back," said Neeskens, "but there are other great scorers in our team and we must not let everything depend on one player."

Frank Rijkaard, the visiting manager, will serve the second of a two-match touchline ban.