Georgios Samaras scored his first hat-trick in three years to help Celtic to a comfortable 5-2 victory over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Saturday but insists neither he nor the Hoops needed the added confidence to face Barcelona on Tuesday night.

The Greece striker’s performance in the Scottish Premiership win over Killie was described as “world class” by manager Neil Lennon.

Samaras, 28, was reluctant to accept his coach’s accolade and claimed there was no need for a boost ahead of the Group H clash with the Catalan giants, who will be without Lionel Messi after he limped off out of Saturday night’s 2-0 win over Almeria with a thigh injury.

Samaras said: “You cannot compare the two games and (say) that because we won against Kilmarnock, confidence will be high. Confidence is always high. We always believe in the ourselves and our team.”

Celtic famously beat Barcelona 2-1 in the group stages last season on their way to the last-16 but lost 2-0 to AC Milan in their opening game of this season’s campaign at San Siro.

Goals from Kris Commons and an early double by Samaras looked to have given Celtic an unassailable lead at Rugby Park. But Killie hit back through Sammy Clingan and Sean Clohessy before Samaras sealed his hat-trick.

Amido Balde came off the bench to score a fifth as the hosts tired late on.