During his 14-year spell at Celtic, Scott Brown came up against some of the world's best in European competition under the Paradise lights.

Lionel Messi visited a handful of times during the former club captain's successful stretch in Glasgow's east end – but the Argentinian was not the best player Brown ever came up against.

That honour goes to Andres Iniesta, who Brown believes was always a better player over the course of 90 minutes whenever Celtic locked horns with Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League.

Speaking to the Daily Record Hotline Live, Brown admitted how difficult it was playing against Iniesta while the Spaniard was flanked by the likes of Sergio Busquets and Xavi.

He said: "I really struggled against Iniesta in terms of understanding what he was doing.

"Every time he got the ball, he just sprinted at you. His first touch was going forward.

"Usually lads are wanting to manipulate the ball, but he would just come straight after you.

"I was like, oh, he's tiny, I'm going to munch him, but he was just so sharp and elegant on the ball."

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Brown added: "Their team was a joke at the time, they had Busquets, Xavi, him. You had Suarez, Messi, obviously, he was alright as well.

"But every game we played, I thought Iniesta was better than him.

"Don't get me wrong, Messi had special moments that nobody else could recreate, but Iniesta as in, making sure the game ticked over, him, Busquets and Xavi were in a different world."