Alves warns ´lucky´ Celtic

Barcelona’s Dani Alves has warned Celtic that there will be no repeat of the Scottish side’s famous UEFA Champions League win last season.

Neil Lennon’s men clinched an historic 2-1 victory over the Spanish outfit at Celtic Park in November on their way to a place in the last 16.

However, defender Alves believes that Celtic were “lucky” to get the win and has warned the Scottish champions that his team-mates will not make the same mistake again on Tuesday.

“We lost in Scotland last season but the reality was it wasn’t a fair result,” Alves is quoted as saying by The Daily Record.

“We accepted we lost but it was down to individual errors. It was not down to Celtic playing better football than us on the night.

“They were lucky. It was a one-off that won’t happen again.”

Much has been said of the alterations made to Barcelona’s playing style under new coach Gerardo Martino, with Gerard Pique in particular praising a slightly more direct approach at Camp Nou.

Alves, however, is more focused on how Celtic will play and is confident that his side will know how to cope with their tactics.

“We have anticipated the way that Celtic will play against us and we have to accept that,” he continued.

“If they adopt the same approach again, they will be very fortunate to get anything from the game this time.”

Barcelona got their Champions League campaign up and running with a 4-0 win against Ajax, while Celtic were beaten 2-0 by Milan at San Siro.