Barcelona manager Xavi has branded his side's upcoming Europa League game against Manchester United 'the worst we could wish for'.
Barca drew the English side in the play-off round of the tournament on Monday in a mouthwatering tie that will be a replay of the 2008/9 and 2010/11 Champions League finals after the Spanish side dropped out of the competition.
Via The Athletic, Xavi claimed that 'luck' was not with his team during the draw, before going onto praise United's abilities despite their difficult start to the season.
'The draw has given us the most difficult rival again, like in the Champions League group stage', he said. '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.'
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.
They will however have sights set on winning the tournament, with the club top of LaLiga ahead of Real Madrid's fixture on Monday.
United 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, as fellow English side Arsenal have done.
The eight teams dropping into the second-tier of European competition were drawn against the eight runners up from the Europa League groups, with the winners of the ties to progress to the next round, where the group winners will enter.
Barca's game against Manchester United is by far the most exciting fixture, though other interesting ties such as Juventus against Nantes and Sevilla versus PSV were also made.
The play-off games will be played on February 16 and February 23.
Owells
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This Xavi needed a brain reset!! He doesn’t speak confidence to his players. One of the reason BARÇA flops while playing big teams and important matches. I wish he could sit down and watch Barca of 2009-2015; We play with PRIDE then. But right now we play without determination of winning, all we’re after is controlling match & outdated tiki-taka but not winning the match. I don’t see future with our midfielders and fullbacks.. Midfielders without shot power, or long pass vision (but this same Xavi was one the best midfielder in his era yet can’t correct this errors). Full-back made crossing without a target or reading striker movement. Everything is wrong with BARÇA. Pulling those Lever to play in europa and be scared of facing outdated Man U.