Neil Lennon has joined a number of leading managers in warning against attempting to replicate Barcelona's much-lauded style of play.

Barca have been labelled as one of the best teams of all time and are favourites to lift the Champions League for a third time in five years.

Lennon, who aside from Real Madrid's Jose Mourinho is the only manager to beat Barca this season, believes, however, that copying the Catalans is fraught with danger.

Instead the Celtic boss believes clubs should try and cultivate their own style, because Barca's is beyond the capabilities of most teams.

"I think Barcelona set the template. It's a dangerous template because I think a lot of managers strive to play like that," Lennon, who was speaking during for the inaugural European Managers and Coaches Forum at St George's Park, told the League Managers Association's website.

"I think what we're seeing now in terms of the current Barcelona team and the current Spanish team, are probably the best footballing teams I've seen, ever, with Messi arguably the greatest player ever.

"So, that's what we all strive to be now. We can't all be that way, we have to cultivate our own styles."

While the likes of ex-Barca boss Pep Guardiola and Mourinho have been at the forefront of tactical progress over the past decade, Lennon believes a British manager can take over the mantle.

"Jose Mourinho brought a new revolutionary style to the game roundabout the middle of the decade," he said. "Guardiola's kicked on from that with his style of football. France had their cycle late 90s.

"Then maybe an English team or an English manager or an English club may set the template for the game over the next 10 years."