City will be looking to avenge last year’s exit to the Catalans…
Samir Nasri insists Manchester City won’t be scared of Barcelona, and that they showed the La Liga giants too much respect last season, ahead of their round-of-16 Champions League tie on Tuesday evening.
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And the Frenchman declared that his side cannot afford to make the same mistake again when Barcelona visit the Etihad stadium on Tuesday night.
“Yeah, I think we respect them too much but we weren’t experienced [enough] to compete with a club like this,” said Nasri, reports Guardian.
“They know how to win a Champions League. I think it was too much of a big game. We were not ready. This year is totally different. We know what we are capable of. We will respect them but we won’t be scared.”
It’s a bold statement from the former-Arsenal man as City come up against the deadly front three of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez.
But Nasri says whilst Lionel Messi is from another galaxy, City too have an ace up their sleeve in Sergio Aguero.
“I think Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo play in their own galaxy. They compete with each other. The rest, Suárez and Neymar are the same level as Sergio [Agüero]. Sergio when he is fit can lift the team and score goals.”
Nasri also offered some support to ex-Liverpool forward Luis Suarez who has seemingly failed to adapt to life at the Camp Nou, scoring just seven goals in 22 games since is £75 million summer transfer.
“I think it is different. At Liverpool, he was the main striker. You are not going to score 70 goals [now],” said Nasri.
“He makes a lot assists and opens up space for Messi and Neymar. He is good, he just doesn’t score as much. At Liverpool, the team was built around him. At Barcelona you cannot do that when you have Messi at his prime. When you arrive at a big club you have to deal with things like that.”