Manchester City have once again been given a very tough draw as far as the Champions League is concerned.
The blues have been drawn against Barcelona for yet another campaign. In the past, they have struggled to get the better against the Spanish club largely because of the huge gulf in quality. After the arrival of former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, it has been suggested that the English club is now more capable of taking on the illustrious Spanish club. Guardiola, though, has downplayed the English team’s quality as he still believes that Barcelona are the superior team.
Despite having won almost 15 titles with Barcelona, the former club captain believes that Luis Enrique been doing a great job at the Camp Nou. City are now favourites to qualify from the group stages as the runners-up and not as the winners. This would affect them severely when it comes to the draw for the last 16 knockout stages. After having failed to win the Champions League title with Bayern Munich, one of the biggest challenges for Guardiola will be to win the European title with City. The team came close to achieving Europe including last season after featuring in the semi-final against eventual winners Real Madrid.
One of the biggest threats for City in the game against Barcelona will come from the front three of Neymar, Lionel Messi, and Luis Suarez. “We will play against the best. Nobody plays better than Barca.The three players upfront [Messi, Suarez and Neymar] make the difference but there is also a lot of work that goes at the back.You can see in the way they play that work has been done at the back and is what Luis Enrique has done and will continue to do in the coming years. They are the best and it’s a great test for us. We will see what level we will give,” said Guardiola.