Although Jordi Cruyff is looking forward to a “special” Europa League match between Barcelona and Manchester United, he feels that the two teams should have faced off earlier in the league.
Barca placed third in Group C of the Champions League, behind Bayern Munich and Inter, sending them to the Europa League for the second straight year.
The Catalan giants were given a hefty matchup with United in the elimination round play-off draw on Monday, which Xavi bemoaned as the “most difficult” matchup imaginable.
Jordi Cruyff’s reaction
Cruyff, the director of sports at Blaugrana and a former player for both teams, would have preferred for such a tantalizing match to have occurred later in the Europa League.
“I think it’s a draw that both teams would have preferred to have further down the line, not so quick, but that’s the beauty of football, you never know what’s going to come,” Cruyff said.
“It came now, and it’s probably going to be a tough match for both, but also very special as these are two historic football clubs.
“Barcelona is a club where the pressure is always at the max, everything you start, you always need to win. That’s the pressure that these sorts of clubs have, the same that United will have.
“For us, it’s a motivation and the fact that we get a team like this so quickly means that this competition isn’t easy at all. It’s difficult, but you know that we’re motivated.”
Barca has positive memories of their recent matches versus United because they have defeated the Red Devils four times in a row, including victories in the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals.
