Begiristain: City can face Barca with confidence

​Txiki Begiristain feels Manchester City can afford to go into their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie against Barcelona in confident mood.

Monday’s draw handed City a repeat of last season’s clash with the Catalan club at the same stage, which ended in a 4-1 aggregate win for Barca.

City scraped into the knockout stages by overcoming Roma 2-0 in their final Group E encounter after beating Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich 3-2 two weeks earlier.

And director of football Begiristain, who won the tournament with Barca in 1992 and spent seven years in the same role at Camp Nou, believes City are in a better position to eliminate his former club this time around.

“Every tie in that draw is the same, it’s fantastic, so we’re looking forward to it,” Begiristain said.

“We have plenty of confidence with the way we qualified beating Bayern Munich at home and Roma away, so the players will be working hard to get fit and arrive in confidence for those games.

“We have improved our squad from last season and we have some real quality up front.”

“It will be emotional, and difficult as well, but is also a chance to visit family and friends.

“I have a lot of friends there, in the club and out of it.”