CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Pep Guardiola reveals team he wants to avoid
Manchester City crashed out of last year’s Champions League at the hands of eventual champions Real Madrid.
City entered this term’s competition among the favourites, with the club hoping to claim a second European crown in three seasons.
Having already drawn against Inter and thrashed Slovan Bratislava so far this term, the Premier League outfit are due to play Sparta Prague, Sporting CP, Feyenoord, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Club Bruges in their remaining European fixtures before the competition splits.
Should they emerge from the first phase as expected, Guardiola has revealed he is keen to not been drawn against Barcelona, who he once played for and managed.
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Speaking on Italian chat show Che Tempo Che Fa on Sunday evening, Guardiola was asked to name the team he wanted to avoid in this season’s Champions League.
“Good question. Barcelona maybe,” Guardiola replied. “The affection I have for them destroys me. I was born in a small town nearby, it’s never easy to play against them.”
Elsewhere, when asked how he got the best out of Lionel Messi during their time together at the Camp Nou, Guardiola said: “You have to know him. For me it’s easy to say that he is the best player of all time, but the stars came together at that moment.
“Maybe it’s a lack of respect for Pele and Maradona, but for me he is [the best of all time]. I’ve never seen someone like him in training, you couldn’t imagine that he could maintain this continuity for 15-20 years.
“When you see him up close, you think of Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan – we were lucky to be contemporaries of these characters. I think of Sorrentino’s ‘The Great Beauty’… it’s a great title for that team.”
