Barcelona will be going into the champions league encounter against Celtic without star player Lionel Messi, who had to be substituted early on in the match against Almeria during the weekend. He has suffered a muscle injury, which troubled him during the early parts of his Barcelona career. Messi has been one of the – if not the best – player in the world over the last few years. He has won four FIFA Ballon d’Or awards in succession, which is a record. Undoubtedly, every team will miss the services of such a player.

Cesc Fabregas, though, have said that it is up to the other players in the team to rise up to the challenge and play well in the absence of Messi. Fabregas will know all about Celtic after having played against the Scottish club numerous times while at Barcelona and at his former club Arsenal. Barcelona also lost to Celtic at Celtic Park last season, which will be in the memories. A victory for Barcelona will put them on step closer towards qualification already after having secured a 4-0 win over Ajax in the first group match.

Milan are expected to be the main challengers in the group, but they are also in a poor run of form. It is now in the hands of Barcelona to run away with the group.

“Messi is the best player in the world, he makes a difference, but he won’t play (against Celtic). We can’t do anything about that. Without Messi, we will all have to take more responsibility. We have to step up, don’t feel his absence and play football without him. I might have more offensive responsibilities. I will try and help the team as a striker or whatever other position I play. Now I feel confident, in good shape and the manager trusts me,” said Fabregas.

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Barcelona recently brought striker Neymar from Santos for around £ 50 million. He is expected to occupy the left of the 4-3-3 formation. This would mean that he will face trouble when cutting in from the left to shoot on his right foot. The centre position is right now occupied by Lionel Messi, who is right now regarded as the best player in the world. However, Neymar is just 21 years old when compared with Messi, who is 26 years old. As a result, there have been several suggestions that it is now time for Barcelona to consider selling Messi, who is already their all-time top scorer.

Fabregas, who came from Arsenal in a £ 35 million deal, has said that it would be unthinkable to see a Barcelona team without Lionel Messi leading the line. The Argentine ace has managed to come a long way since making his debut as a teenager. He has won the FIFA Ballon d’Or award four times in succession, which has never been achieved before. He is close to beating several records held by stars like Pele and Maradona. Even though Neymar is an excellent player, Fabregas has said that Messi is absolutely vital to Barcelona and the club should not consider selling the 26-year-old, who has a £ 200 million release clause.

“It is unthinkable for Messi not to be part of this club. Leo is the most important player – he has no equal. Remove Messi and you may not lose everything, but you do run out of a large part of what makes this team tick. He has been chased by almost all of our rival teams in the world. It will definitely to be a good environment for him to learn a lot and he can help us to win and achieve our goals,” said Fabregas about Messi and Neymar.

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has said that midfielder Cesc Fabregas enjoy more freedom when he was at Arsenal. Fabregas made the £ 35 million switch to the Camp Nou almost 2 years ago. He was primarily a midfielder at Arsenal, but he has played as a striker at Barcelona on numerous occasions. He has also been regarded as a false number nine by the Barcelona managers. It has been effective on some occasions, but there have also been times when the experiment has failed. When he was at Arsenal, Fabregas dominated the midfield by creating and scoring goals.

Pique believes that Fabregas is at his best when he is playing in the midfield Premier league team because it allows more freedom for the players. He has been restricted on several occasions due to the passing style of football adopted by Barcelona. The 25-year-old midfielder scored a hat-trick against Mallorca during the weekend, which helped him take his total tally for the season to 12 goals. This remains some way off the 19 goals be achieved when he was an Arsenal player back in the 2009-10 season.

It is even more impressive considering that he played in the midfield for Arsenal during that season. Fabregas is expected to be dropped for the Champions League semi-final match against Bayern Munich.

“In England you have more time on the ball; midfielders, especially those who move between the lines, have more space. There is more freedom to move around, and it is enjoyable as a midfielder. But I can see how going back to a positional game can be difficult if you have had the freedom to play according to your intuition instead of a collective order. I can see how Cesc would like to have more freedom as he used to have at Arsenal,” said Pique.