Barcelona manager Gerardo Martino says he is looking forward to facing fellow South American Manuel Pellegrini after his side was paired with Manchester City in the European Champions League round of 16 on Monday.
Barcelona finished top of Group H with 13 points, while City narrowly lost out on being crowned Group D leaders despite their memorable 3-2 win over defending champions, Bayern Munich, on the last day of the group campaign- finishing with 15 points as the Bavarians but with an inferior goal difference.
It was obvious Pelegrini’s rejuvenated squad were the team many group winners (except Bayern, Chelsea and Manchester United) had feared to meet in the wake of Monday’s draw.
But the Argentinean boss, who took over the Catalans in the summer, sees the star-studded fixture as the best opportunity to manage from opposite dugouts along with his Chilean counterpart.
“(It is a) tough draw, but I think they will think the same,” said the 51-year-old coach nicknamed ‘Tata’.
“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 against a side managed by him.”
City came up with some mouthwatering results on their route to reaching the last 16 of Europe’s elite competition for the first time while the absence of some of Barca’s key players like Cesc Fabregas, Lionel Messi and Victor Valdes towards the end of the group campaign stole the shine off Martino’s squad.
Martino admits the man nicknamed the ‘Engineer’ has done a great job with the Manchester team, but thinks a lot could change before February 18 or 19.
“On the face-off, 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 competitions you obviously have difficult opponents to overcome. Now we have to do that against City,” he added.
Meanwhile, Pellegrini insists his squad have not been saddled with the challenges of meeting the four-time European champions. He rather believes the La Liga giants fears the worst.
When quizzed on the draw ahead of Tuesday’s League Cup tie against Leicester, he said: “I think Barcelona will be very concerned that they have drawn us. They are not the team of two years ago.”
