La Liga giants Barcelona are still able to "compete with the best teams in Europe", insists boss Ronald Koeman.

The Catalans are mired in uncertainty with star man Lionel Messi's contract expiring in the summer and presidential elections due to take place next month.

They are eight points adrift of league leaders Atletico Madrid and face Paris St-Germain in the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday.

Dutch head coach Koeman said Barca "still have a good team".

Barca finished the group stage of the competition with a heavy 3-0 home defeat by Juventus, but the side have experienced an upturn in form since then.

They have lost just one of their last 18 games - against Sevilla in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final - and go into the meeting against PSG on the back of a 5-1 thrashing of Alaves at the weekend.

Koeman said: "The team is doing better, the team is playing good, on a high level, physically the team is on a high level and we still have fantastic players.

"That means we can beat everyone. That's what we like to show, that we can compete with the best teams in Europe."

Messi, who submitted a transfer request last summer, has scored 11 goals in 10 games during the side's excellent run since the turn of the year.

The 33-year-old Argentine has been linked with a move to PSG, as well as Manchester City, but Koeman said he was "very hopeful" Messi would stay at the Nou Camp.

Left-back Jordi Alba added: "I am a much better player when Leo is on the field than when he is not. With Leo we are much better and much stronger.

"We want him to stay at Barca for many more years, but it is Leo's decision and we will have to respect whatever decision he takes."
Team news - Neymar out for PSG

Barca may welcome back defender Gerard Pique, who has been out for three months with a knee injury but has trained with the squad for the last five days.

The hosts will be without centre-back Ronald Araujo, who has been ruled out with an ankle injury.

PSG suffered a huge blow as forward Neymar was ruled out of the meeting against his old side with a thigh injury, but the Brazil international could return for the second leg on 10 March.

Winger Angel di Maria is also out with a thigh problem, while midfielder Marco Verratti is a doubt with a hip injury.
Match stats

Barcelona have knocked out PSG in each of their last three Champions League knock-out ties: 2012-13 quarter-finals, 2014-15 quarter-finals and 2016-17 last-16. The only previous time PSG overcame the Catalans in a Champions League knockout tie was in the 1994-95 quarter-finals.
The last time Barcelona and PSG met was in the 2016-17 last-16. The Catalan side became the first - and so far only - side to qualify for the next round following a 4+ goals first-leg margin of defeat (they lost the first leg 4-0 at Parc des Princes but won the return leg 6-1 at the Nou Camp).
Since 2012-13, only Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid have faced each other more often (10 times) than Barcelona and PSG (8) in the Champions League. Those eight games have produced 32 goals, an average of four per match.

Barcelona

Barcelona will attempt to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League for a record 14th consecutive season. The last time they were knocked out in the round of 16 was in 2006-07 against Liverpool.
Barcelona have only lost one of their last 33 home games in the knockout stages (W25 D7), a 3-0 defeat against Bayern Munich in the semi-finals in 2012-13.
44% of Barcelona's goals in this season's group stages came from set-piece (seven out of 16), the highest ratio among the 16 teams left in the competition.

PSG

PSG have reached the knockout stages for the ninth consecutive season, matching the record for a French club set by Lyon between 2003-04 and 2011-12. They have made it past the round of 16 once in the last four seasons, when they went all the way to the final last term.
PSG's only away win against a Spanish side in the knockout stages came eight years ago against Valencia. They have lost the last three visits to Spain in the competition by an aggregate scoreline of 11-2.
Kylian Mbappe has scored only one goal in his nine Champions League knockout games with PSG. He had found the net six times in six knockout games with Monaco.