Former Celtic defender Alan Stubbs admitted he was in awe of PSG’s rampaging Champions League masterclass and reckons the Hoops would have struggled to repel the assault with 15 players.

Brendan Rodgers’s side were left licking some serious wounds after Neymar, Cavani, Mbappe and company inflicted a sobering 5-0 defeat on the Scottish champions with a clinical display of pace, purpose, movement and attacking verve.

Stubbs, who was part of the Celtic rearguard between 1996 and 2001, was a mesmerised observer in the Parkhead stands and insisted the classy PSG performance was the best he’s seen in Glasgow’s East End.

Read more: Celtic ace: Cut out the nonsense Neymar if you want to be loved like Barcelona star Lionel Messi​

He said: "I think you would have needed 15 players on the pitch and I don't even know if that would have helped. I’ve had the privilege of taking part in some great nights at Celtic Park and also of watching some great teams play there but that was possibly the best performance I’ve seen from anyone there. It was that impressive. They (PSG) will do that to other teams as well. There’s no doubt about that because they’re only going to get better. We’ve talked for years about Messi, Suarez and Neymnar at Barcelona but Neymar, Cavani and Mbappe is the next one.

“They were breathtaking at times. Not just their movement but their decision-making and their first touches made it football played at a different level. They weren’t just one or two levels above Celtic but three or four, possibly more.

Read more: Neymar can snub any handshakes he wants after playing us off the park says Celtic keeper Craig Gordon

“When you’re a player and you come up against top quality opponents the first thing you notice is that their first touch is unbelievably good.

“Celtic were criticised for not getting close to them but they tried to do that but PSG’s awareness and movement were so good that they couldn’t get near them.

“Sometimes people don’t appreciate how difficult it is to get close to players of that calibre. As supporters, we sit in the stand and shout ‘get closer’ or ‘kick him’ but it’s easier said than done. PSG were everything we feared they might be but hoped that they wouldn’t be.

Read more: Scott Brown accepts PSG gave Celtic "a hiding"​

"You can look into it and see what they could have done better in little areas but I don't think it would necessarily have affected the result of the game. Sometimes you just have to say, ‘you know what? They were better than us’.”

*Alan Stubbs was speaking at the Tesco Bank Football Challenge Festival at St Benedict’s Primary School in Easterhouse. Over 140,000 children have now taken part in the grassroots programme.