Barcelona’s Martino excited to face Pellegrini & Man City

Simon Collings 19:42 16/12/2013
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  • Ready for battle: Martino is excited to come up against Pellegrini.

    Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino is excited at the prospect of facing fellow South American Manuel Pellegrini's Manchester City in the Champions League last 16.

    Monday's draw saw the two sides pitted together in what is one of the ties of the round.

    Both sides are impressing domestically, with Barcelona currently top of La Liga and Manchester City just three points off the summit of the Premier League.

    Having followed Pellegrini's footsteps to coach in Europe after succesful stints in South America, Martino hailed the Chilean as one of the best coaches in the world.

    "I always said that Manuel's road from South America to Europe interested me.

    "He may be one of the best coaches in the world right now, so I am happy to be going up against a side managed by him."

    Martino admitted that City represented a difficult challenge for his squad, but that his players were up for the fight.

    "On the face of it they are a very strong opponent with very good players, but I also think that form will have a big part to play.

    "I don't know if we will be favourites against City.

    "However, what I do know is that Barcelona has to try and win all the competitions they play in and when you try to win all the competitions you obviously have difficult opponents to overcome.

    "Now we have to do that against City."

    Martino is right to be wary of the Abu Dhabi owned club, who have won all eight of their home league matches this season.

    Pellegrini's team have enjoyed a memorable week, defeating Bayern Munich and Arsenal in the space of five days – netting nine goals in the process.

    The victories serve as a warning to Barcelona, who will be aware of the threat of City's Spanish contingent of Alvaro Negredo, David Silva and Jesus Navas.

    The tie also means that Yaya Toure will return to the Camp Nou.

    The Ivorian was a key part of Barcelona's treble winning side in 2009 and has been an instrumental player for City this year, scoring 8 goals in 15 league games.

    Fortunately for the four-time European champions, World Player of the Year Lionel Messi and goalkeeper Victor Valdes should have recovered from their respective injuries in time for the first-leg in Manchester on February 18.

    The Spanish giants have missed the inspirational Messi, but they will be buoyed by his return for the last 16 encounter with City.

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