Stephen Dunmoye
Barcelona head coach, Xavi Hernadez has claimed that Manchester United is the most difficult and greatest premier league side’s rival that Barca will ever face, adding that luck was not on their side.
The LaLiga giants drew United in the play-off round of the tournament on Monday.
While speaking to Newsmen, Xavi claimed that ‘luck’ was not with his team during the draw.
According to him, “The draw has given us the most difficult rival again, like in the Champions League group stage, luck was not on our side. Manchester United are a great rival, a historic club… the worst that we could wish for.
“They have great individualities, but I’d highlight the group they have. We’ll prepare well, analyse the opponent as we have to.
“It’s not just Cristiano Ronaldo, we are going to face a team that has grown a lot under Erik Ten Hag and we’ll have to challenge them on the pitch. [They are a] big historic club, they will have the same urgency to win as us.”
Meanwhile, Barcelona dropped into the competition after finishing third in Group C of the Champions League, ending the group stage behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.
For United, they finished second in their Europa League group, meaning they have to play the first knockout round rather than receiving a bye to the round of 16.