CELTIC are in line to make a £1.5m profit from the visit of Barcelona tomorrow night, before a ball is even kicked.

The Scottish champions froze Champions League ticket prices and corporate packages at the same rate as last season, meaning season-ticket holders were offered a three-game deal for £84 to see Barcelona, Ajax and AC Milan visit Parkhead. But Celtic still stand to take in £1.75m from a 60,000 full house and police, stewarding and other costs will shave off only around £200,000 of that.

The Parkhead club will receive a further £425,000 from Uefa if they draw the game, or £850,000 if they repeat last season's remarkable 2-1 group-stage victory. Their prospects of doing so were done no harm by the confirmation that Lionel Messi is definitely out of the match in Glasgow, after he suffered a thigh injury in Barcelona's 2-0 victory over Almeria on Saturday. Messi had scored a wonderful opening goal, his 11th of the season, but then had to be substituted after only 29 minutes. Barcelona confirmed yesterday he would be out for "two to three weeks".

A club statement read: "Leo Messi has a small injury to the biceps femoris [thigh] in his right leg. This was confirmed by medical tests undertaken on the player on Sunday."

The Argentine's absence will certainly force him to miss Barcelona's two games this week - tomorrow against Celtic and on Saturday against Valladolid.

Barcelona also remain weakened in defence. Javier Mascherano was ruled out in midweek by a hamstring problem, left-back Jordi Alba is out with a similar injury and Carles Puyol, who is nearing a return after knee surgery, is not yet ready to rejoin the squad.

Messi's injury overshadowed Barcelona's defeat of Almeria, which was a club-record seventh straight win at the start of a La Liga season.

Meanwhile, Celtic are braced for a Barcelona side seeking "payback" after their defeat in Glasgow last year, claimed Efe Ambrose. "We know it will be even more difficult and dangerous, because it will be like payback for them," said the Nigerian defender. "A year ago, beating them was unbelievable. I believe this time Barcelona will be coming full force to get something. But, at the same time, we are also going to step it up. We know all eyes are on us to see if our victory last year was some kind of fluke, just down to luck."

Speaking after the 5-2 defeat of Kilmarnock which featured a hat-trick from the highly impressive Georgios Samaras, Ambrose picked out the striker as key to any success in the Group H match. He said: "It shows that he is up to his peak again and that is a great thing for our squad. He has been battling against injuries but after this display you can see he is fully fit and back to his best. He will be a big help against Barcelona."

Ambrose and his team-mates were given a DVD of last season's defeat of Barcelona by Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager, but the defender insisted he was familiar with all aspects of that performance - and of the form and formation of the side now coached by Argentine Gerardo Martino. "Every day I watch Barcelona, so I knew all about them even before last season," he explained. "I watch them to make me better. When you do, you are learning from people who are better and more experienced than you, so I watch it to make myself improve.

"They are different team from last season: a different coach, different tactics and a different system. They don't press the ball as high up the pitch as they did. They play more to instruction and more tactically now."

However, Ambrose took strength from experience. "Barcelona are coming to Celtic Park and it is not going to be easy for them. They know that. Beating them last season puts us on to the highest stage. This game changed everything about how some people looked at Celtic," he added.