‘DON’T RULE OUT CELTIC,’ XAVI

The Hoops had a disastrous start to the campaign with a 7-0 flop against the midfielder’s old club in the Nou Camp before claiming a point in the thrilling 3-3 draw with Manchester City.

Now they are preparing for back-to-back confrontations with Bundesliga giants Borussia Monchengladbach.

And Xavi has not ruled out Brendan Rodgers’ side springing an upset and making it through to the lucrative knock-out stages.

The 36-year-old Spanish legend, who now plays in Qatar for Al Sadd, said: “Celtic can definitely compete, but there is no doubt they are in the most difficult group with Manchester City and Barcelona.

“It’s so hard. However, you can see from the draw with City that Celtic have a chance.

“My first thought would be that Barca and City will qualify, but there is no reason why Celtic — and Borussia Monchengladbach — can’t cause a surprise. It’s possible.”

If Celtic can beat the German outfit, who have already lost to both Barca and Pep Guardiola’s team. they will be a strong position to at least finish in third place in their group.

If the Scottish champions can stay in Europe until 2017, it will show a big improvement on their fortunes from last season – when they failed to win a single match in the Europa League during Ronny Deila’s reign.