LUIS SUAREZ is not everyone’s idea of a thing of beauty, what with the biting and racism, but then you look at his statistics as a footballer and it is hard not to admire the man.
From his first 100 games with Barcelona, he has scored 88 goals and with 43 assists to his name as well. These are mind-boggling numbers and Celtic have to somehow deal with him at the Nou Camp.
And if they succeed in doing just that then there’s only Neymar and Lionel Messi to worry about.
Brendan Rodgers would have been forgiven for looking a bit worried about what lies in wait for him and yet the Celtic manager was full of the joys as he addressed the media in the Barcelona press room.
As he name-dropped some of the best players of all time, never mind who play the game right now, it was clear he was looking forward to seeing how his own team will cope with the many threats which will come their way, with his former player Suarez the one he rates as good as anyone in the world.
“As a manager in every game, you have to believe you can get a positive result,” said Rodgers. “We respect that this is arguably the best team in the world with a front three who are maybe one of the best of all time.
"When Luis Suarez played for me, he occupied four defenders on his own. He really could take care of four. Then you add Neymar to that and then possibly the best player ever, then it’s a big game for us
“Does it help to know him so well? It does and it doesn’t. I know his tricks, I know his moves and you can’t play the game for the player when he is on there, that’s the problem.
“But you can give as much insight as you possibly can and then hope you get a bit of luck along the way, stay calm when you have to and really, really enjoy the occasion.
"I give information more to help us. I’m not a coach who stands for an hour glorifying a team and then your players walk out thinking: Christ almighty! I’m a coach who focuses on us and what we do.
“But you have to respect the opponent and look for the small details, how you might set up, little movements Messi will make, Luis will take you for a walk and spin in behind, he’ll run across the first post, he’ll bump you, he’ll nutmeg you. That’s what you try to do.”
Suarez is not one of football's more popular figures. His charge sheet is pretty long and yet the Uruguayan seems utterly unfazed by what anyone else thinks about him, and his former manager thinks an awful lot about the man he had at Liverpool for three seasons.
“Luis is the best striker in the world right now,” said Rodgers. “I don’t think there is any question about that.
You have to speak about the man first. He is one of the most beautiful men you can come across. A very humble guy who works tirelessly at his profession.
"He is a family man who gives everything to football after his family. I had the pleasure of working with him as a human being for two years and he was incredible.
“As a player, the biggest compliment you can give Luis is that he came to a world class team and made them better. Barcelona would not be the same team without him.
He is an incredible player, but I was fortunate to know him as a person as well and he is a really good man.”
So do Celtic have any chance? Well, of course they do, football is great that way, but Rodgers would need something seriously special from a team who, unlike Barcelona, were not able to rest seven key players at the weekend for obvious reasons.
“We won’t be fearful,” said the manager. “We’ll pick a team that has to defend with 11 players and when we have the ball we have to be able to attack with 11. My idea is that we have to play without fear, home and away. If you don’t want the pressure, then it is difficult to play at the elite level.
"There are lots of development to take place over the next few months and years but this is a great game right now for our education.
“Every game at this level is an experience and especially where you are coming from where we are coming from as a club in the last few years. If anyone had said four months ago that he would be playing in the Champions League we would have bitten their hand off.
“So for us and the young and senior players this is a great experience and you always want it to be a positive experience so that’s my approach to it.”
Celtic have a mighty test in front of them. However, Rodgers could make anyone believe that his team can pull off a result. If so, it might just go down as among the best four days in the club’s history.
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