Paulo Bernardo wants Celtic to head into the Champions League knockout rounds on a high by securing their first win over an English side in almost two decades.

Having already guaranteed a play-off spot, Brendan Rodgers’ men complete the league phase at Aston Villa tonight.

Celtic are winless in six meetings with English teams since Shunsuke Nakamura’s wonderful free-kick downed Manchester United 1-0 in 2006 to send his side through to the last 16 for the first time.

“We face a top team in England so we are really excited and I think it will be a great match to play and to watch,” said Portuguese midfielder Bernardo.

“I think with Celtic we are used to playing with pressure all the games because we have a lot of responsibility to win every game.

“We did very well at this stage and we are really happy with our progress until here. We will try our best to get a great result.”

Although recently-returned Jota cannot play at Villa Park, Bernardo admits his signing is an exciting one.

“He is a great player, a great person and I’m really excited to play with him.”

And with Kieran Tierney joining in the summer at the latest, Bernardo believes Celtic are adding quality to the squad.

“I think we have a great group and if we can have this quality it’s great for us,” he added.

“It’s always good to have better players in the squad and if we have a competitive group it’s good for everyone. So yeah, I’m really happy.”