'Manchester City one of the five best team',says Pique

The ex-Manchester United centre back says that he has the utmost respect for Manchester City and thinks it will be a much more difficult game than the last year’s round of 16 where Barca beat City with 4-0 aggregate over the two legs. Pique also believes that Manchester City are among the top 5 teams in the world and are very difficult opponents to face.

FC Barcelona is going to face Manchester City tonight after a shocking 1-0 defeat to Malaga last weekend at Camp Nou and defender Pique believes that a win in the first leg at Etihad Stadium could put the things in right order and the result could compensate the loss against Malaga.

Here, what the defender said,

Having a game every three days is great because it's a chance to prove ourselves again," the Spain international told reporters at the official press conference in Manchester. "We get to play again and forget about Saturday a little bit. 

"You never forget about a defeat at Camp Nou, but it's the chance to come here and get a good result to take back to the second leg."

And he added: "City are one of the five best teams in the world and the Champions League is the most important competition, the most prestigious one. Now the most important thing is to advance to the quarter-finals."  

Pique also silenced the speculation that the players are not happy with the manager Luis Enrique, says that the players are fully behind the manager and have the utmost respect for him.

"There is no unsettled atmosphere surrounding Luis Enrique," he said. "The team are behind the coach. While we were winning, nobody talked about any of that."

Pique also believes that the absence of his ex-team-mate Yaya Toure will be huge boost for Barcelona and will surely give Barca an advantage, but things are not predictable in football.

Yaya is such an important player," he said. "He has so much quality. I was looking at some statistics on television and when he is out, you definitely notice the difference."

/Anuttam/