KOLO TOURE has paid tribute to Barcelona’s terrifying trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar after last week’s mauling in the Nou Camp.
Celtic’s 35-year-old Ivorian centre-half, who was snapped up by ex-boss Brendan Rodgers after being released by Liverpool, said: “I have played against many top strikers, many combinations, but this is crazy.
“The combination is amazing. They pass the ball at the right time and are just so difficult to stop.
“The Barca of 2005-06 were a good team and they beat Arsenal in the Champions League Final. But this is the next level.
“Yes, we got smashed. But, honestly, they are the best I have ever seen. They work so hard for each other. They are like brothers.
“They pass, they respect each other. When they have to make the pass, they give it at the right time.”
The Hoops defender added: “Before the game, Luis was playing with me. He said: ‘It’s going to be a tough night!’.
“I said: ‘Okay, we will fight’. Then at the end, Luis said: ‘I told you, Kolo!’.
“He is a top striker, I just didn’t want him to score. But you have Neymar, Messi and him – and they have an unbelievable midfield, too.
“So, it was always going to be a tough night. We did work hard, but we could have done better defensively and this is part of the game.
“We are not happy at losing and we have to learn from what happened. I think we can do that because we have a young team.
“We knew that this group would be tough. We knew it would be challenging for us and we would have to defend.
“But we need to do better defensively as we conceded some easy goals against Barcelona.
“At the same time, we were playing against the best team in the world.”
