Jamie Carragher believes Manchester City would be “pleased” if they were drawn to face Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Both sides have faced each other six times in Europe’s elite competition, with City winning only once while the Blaugrana triumphing on the rest of the five occasions.
Back then, Lionel Messi and Co. were one of the teams to beat in Europe and the Sky Blues were miles away from them in terms of quality.
But times have changed, with Manchester City dominating European football while Barcelona are light years away from the team they once were during the last decade.
Jamie Carragher says Manchester City would love to draw Barcelona in the Champions League
So much so that while Pep Guardiola’s men are the favourites to win the competition again, it would be a miracle if Xavi’s side went on to win the tournament for the first time since 2015.
As a result, Jamie Carragher feels Manchester City would fancy a two-legged affair against Barcelona in the last eight of the Champions League.
“When you think of one of the biggest names there, Barcelona, where they are right now, I think that’d be a decent draw for somebody, say a Manchester City or an Arsenal or PSG.”
“I think if they got Barcelona, they’d be pleased”, he said on CBS Sports.
Manchester City should be expected to stroll past Xavi and Co.
In our view, Jamie Carragher is correct about Manchester City potentially fancying a match-up against Barcelona in the Champions League.
For starters, in terms of sheer quality, while the Catalan side have several top players, City have various starters that would walk into a world XI.
In terms of managers as well, as prodigious as Xavi is, Pep Guardiola remains arguably the best coach in the world.
Judging by recent experience in Europe when it comes to both teams, while Barcelona reached the quarter-finals of the tournament for the first time in four years, Manchester City have reached one quarter-final, and two finals, winning one out of them as well as a semi-final in the same period.
As a result, City would perhaps consider it a favourable draw if they were set to face one of La Liga’s biggest heavyweights.
