Celtic draw Barcelona, Man City and Borussia Monchengladbach

Lionel Messi and Scott Brown — Barcelona beat Celtic 3-1 in a pre-season friendly in Dublin last month

Celtic have been drawn to face Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach in Champions League Group C.

The Scottish champions reached the group stage by beating Hapoel Beer Sheva 5-4 on aggregate.

They will open their campaign away to Barcelona on Tuesday 13 September.

"It is a great draw - three great teams," said Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney. "That is why we are in the Champions League, to play the best."

Full draw

After their opener in the Nou Camp, Celtic will host Manchester City on 28 September, before home and away games against Monchengladbach on 19 October and 1 November. They then entertain Barcelona on 23 November before concluding away to City on 6 December.

Tierney, 19, will be experiencing the group stage for the first time, and is relishing the prospect of confronting Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi

"It is just brilliant to watch [Barcelona], and hopefully I can play against him," the youngster added.

"We are always hopeful. We prepare ourselves right and we do the right work on the training field. Anything can happen."

Celtic have progressed to the last 16 of the competition on three occasions, most recently in season 2012-13.

That season, under Neil Lennon, Celtic beat Barca 2-1 in Glasgow at the group stage but lost by the same scoreline away from home.

Celtic's opponents
Barcelona	Manchester City	Borussia Monchengladbach
Head coach: Luis Enrique	Manager: Pep Guardiola	Head coach: Andre Schubert
Stadium: Camp Nou, capacity 99,354	Stadium: City of Manchester Stadium, capacity 55,097	Stadium: Stadion im Borussia-Park
Barcelona are defending La Liga champions	Manchester City finished fourth in last season's Premier League	Borussia Monchengladbach finished fourth in last season's Bundesliga
Barca last won the Champions League in 2015 under current boss Luis Enrique	City have never previously won the Champions League	Monchengladbach have never previously won the Champions League

The two teams met again in the following season's group stage, the Spanish side winning 1-0 in Glasgow and 6-1 at home.

City - fourth in England's Premier League last season - and German side Monchengladbach have never previously faced Celtic in the competition.

"It could've been easier," Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound. "There's some real glamour ties in there - some really great nights ahead at Celtic Park.

"I don't think they will be relishing coming to us with the supporters, the atmosphere, the occasion we put on there.

"It couldn't be any more difficult but [manager] Brendan [Rodgers] has got off to a great start. It has been a remarkable first couple of months for him.

"We will attempt to get one more player in before next Wednesday's [transfer] deadline."

Former Barca boss Pep Guardiola took over at City, who reached the semi-finals last season, in the summer while recent Celtic signing Kolo Toure is a former City player whose brother is still at the Manchester club and also once played for Barcelona.

Rodgers, who took over from Ronny Deila in the summer, previously managed Liverpool at this stage of the competition.