Spartak Moscow winger Aiden McGeady has praised Barcelona after his side narrowly lost to the Spanish giants.

The Catalan club came from behind to beat the Russian outfit 3-2 at the Nou Camp thanks to a brace from Lionel Messi.

While McGeady has admitted that he was content with his own performance, the former Celtic man labelled their opponents as one of the best.

"It was a very difficult game. We were close to winning. Close, but you always know Barcelona will have chances. They came in the second half – and they took them," said McGeady.

"We played well. We passed the ball quickly and well. Barcelona are one of the best teams in the world, have the best players, so that's been the main deciding factor. This could have been a good start but it's very difficult to come to the Camp Nou and win.

"Personally, I think I performed OK. You're never going to see much of the ball and I didn't have one-on-one situations, it was just really trying to keep the ball. I set up the second goal, so overall I was okay, but all of us are disappointed we didn't come out of this performance with something."

A Dani Alves own goal and a Romulo strike had given Spartak the lead after Cristian Tello's opener.