Luis Enrique admits his Barcelona team face a tough task after being paired with Manchester City in the last 16 of the Champions League – but has tipped Lionel Messi to terrorise the reigning Premier League champions.
In what is the tie of the round, the Catalan giants were drawn with City for the second year in a row as the balls came out of the hat in Switzerland yesterday.
Barca will travel to Manchester on February 24 and host the return leg at the Nou Camp on March 18 – just a few days before a La Liga Clasico clash with Real Madrid at the same venue.
Messi scored home and away against City last season as Barca won 4-1 on aggregate. And when asked yesterday if he
was concerned about facing City’s own Argentine star Sergio Aguero, Enrique countered that City should be worried about Messi.
“Aguero is a great striker,” said the Barcelona boss. “He is probably around the top 10 players in the world.
“But number one is Leo Messi. There is a group of players at a very high level and Aguero is amongst them, but Messi is the best and everybody else is a bit behind him.”
However Enrique did also acknowledge that yesterday’s draw in Switzerland could have been a lot kinder to his team, saying: “They will be a tough opponent, one of the hardest we could have faced.
“It will be a balanced game, for sure, but I always think positive so I think we can win.
“Playing the second leg at home will be a small advantage, but not decisive.
“City have strengthened and are a team with great depth, and they are a candidate to win the Champions League, like us.
“But if we’re on form, we’re good enough to cope with anything. We will analyse City a lot – but it’s not until February so a lot can change before then.”
While Enrique is sure to do his homework, Barca’s sporting director of football Andoni Zubizarreta said it is an opponent they know all about.
“It is the same draw we had a year ago, it was a very difficult game and we are going to look forward to it,” Zubizarreta said.
“Manchester City have an outstanding squad with a very good coach, a very good team and are very competitive.
“We know all about them. They have been playing at a high level and it is going to be difficult. Two great teams with incredible players and anything can happen.
“Can we go further than last year? Hopefully we can go all the way.”
A far more immediate task facing Barca is the formality of progressing into the next round of the Copa Del Rey.
Following a 4-0 victory over Huesca in the first leg, tonight’s rematch at the Nou Camp will surely present little challenge to
the Catalan club.
Barca will be without Brazilian stars Neymar and Dani Alves with respective ankle and hamstring injuries, and Enrique is likely to
take the chance to field a number of young stars – although the Barca boss again declined to give any clues over his starting eleven.
Despite his team’s disappointing goalless draw against Getafe on Saturday, Enrique insisted he is happy with his team’s progress and rejected suggestions they are not gelling into an effective unit.
“We don’t need to change anything,” he claimed.
“Not every game is going to go the way you want, but I just hope that the team can keep developing and improving.”
