FCBARCELONA.CAT

17.03.2009 17:16

Veterans can’t agree on CL rival

Edgar Fornós/Roger Bogunyà

We spoke to four former Barça stars and discovered that there’s quite a variety of opinions as to which team they would prefer to face in the next round of the Champions League.

Milla, Sergi, Nadal and Goikoetxea agreed on just one thing: the team everyone wants to avoid in the draw is Barça, providing that Guardiola’s men perform the way they know how.

Milla: “Liverpool could be one of the trickiest”

Luis Milla is hoping Barça doesn’t get Liverpool: “Liverpool could be one of the trickiest. They comfortably beat Real Madrid in the R16. They’re a very strong team physically, tactically well-rehearsed and they’ve got punch upfront. The (Premier) League looks complicated and they’ll put all their efforts into the Champions League”.

Sergi: “A strong opponent will be good”

Sergi Barjuán preferred not to single out any one team but admitted he preferred one of the stronger teams: “It doesn’t matter which team you draw because in the end, if you want to win, you have to get past all of them. I believe a strong opponent will be good for Barça to find out what level they’re really at and also because, this way, you eliminate some of the strong teams”.

Nadal: “The English teams are the strongest”

Miquel Àngel Nadal, who was one of Sergi’s team-mates in defence, believes that the English teams present the greatest difficulties: “In principal the English teams are the strongest. In a draw it’s difficult to predict which rival you should face. The only thing we can hope is that Barça perform at their best because if that’s the case then it’s the others that have to worry”.

Goikoetxea: “The easiest is Arsenal”

Contrary to Nadal, Jon Andoni Goikoetxea believes that the easiest team is one of the English quartet; Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal. “When you get to the quarterfinals all the teams are difficult. As it’s a two-leg tie, Barça shouldn’t have any problems if they play the way they have been playing all season. Possibly Arsenal is the easiest since they have some very young and inexperienced players. But even so it would be very difficult”.