Celtic competed well with their La Liga opponents for large parts of the game at the Aviva Stadium but they were ultimately outclassed as Lionel Messi and co started pre-season in style.

The Scottish side could have taken the lead after just 15 seconds when Patrick Roberts capitalised on a mistake in the Barcelona defence but his left-footed effort curled just wide of the far post.

Barcelona soon made their opponents pay for that let-off as they took the lead after 11 minutes, with Aleix Vidal setting up Arda Turan to find the top corner of the net from 25 yards.

The Scottish Premiership side soon found themselves chasing shadows as they struggled to compete with Barcelona's passing game in the middle of the park, but a mistake nearly led to Celtic finding an equaliser through Scott Brown, who saw his low effort comfortably saved by Jordi Masip.

However, Celtic did have their equaliser just before the half-hour mark through Leigh Griffiths, who fired the ball into an empty net after Jose Antonio Martinez had mis-controlled the ball into his path in front of his own goal.

They remained on level terms for just one minute and 27 seconds as Efe Ambrose diverted the ball into his own net and Barcelona extended their lead just before half time through Munir El Haddadi.

A move involving Messi, Camara and Luis Suarez ended with the Uruguayan playing the ball across goal for the young attacker to send his shot into the roof of the net from three yards.

Before the start of the second half, Celtic made half-a-dozen substitutions and the injection of energy almost paid off when Moussa Dembele fired marginally wide shortly after the restart.

Tom Rogic also went close with a long-range effort that clipped the side-netting, but Barcelona soon regained control and Denis Suarez nearly found the corner from inside of the penalty area.

Moments later, Luis Suarez miscued a volley after being found by a magical pass from Sergi Samper but after he left the pitch, clear-cut opportunities were few and far between.

With 15 minutes remaining, Stuart Armstrong should have done better from 12 yards while Rogic fired wide from distance soon after another stoppage for substitutions.

The closing stages were played out in low-key fashion but neither side will be too concerned as they continued their preparations for the new season.