Xavi ready to face Ronaldo again

Barcelona, who dropped down to the Europa League after finishing third in Group C, drew to play against Manchester United, who finished second in their group, in the tournament.

The matchup between these two teams will be a rematch of their most recent meeting, the 2019 Champions League quarterfinals. Barça manager Xavi Hernández had high praise for United player Cristiano Ronaldo, a player he’s faced many times when he was still playing for Barcelona.

Over nine years and 34 games playing for Real Madrid, Ronaldo scored 20 times against Barcelona.

“I think Ronaldo is a great, great player,” said Xavi. “He has marked an era in world soccer and can still make the difference.”

It’s also possible Ronaldo won’t even be a United player come the first leg of the fixture between United and Barcelona. The January transfer window will have just closed, and Ronaldo’s status has been rocky from the start. He’s scored just three goals and had two assists in 16 appearances for United this season. There has been a lot of drama with manager Erik Ten Hag not starting Ronaldo and Ronaldo even refusing to come on as a substitute. Since then, though, he’s recently become a regular starter.

Barcelona was dropped from the Champions League for the second consecutive season, but are performing well domestically. They are at the top of La Liga, two points ahead of Real Madrid. Regardless of their success in LaLiga and of the positive things Xavi has to say about Ronaldo, he knows that this will not be an easy game for his team.

“The draw has given us the most difficult rival again, like in the Champions League group stage,” said Xavi. “Luck was not on our side. Manchester United are a great rival, a historic club... the worst that we could wish for.”

“It’s not just Cristiano - we are going to face a team that has grown a lot under Ten Hag and we’ll have to challenge them on the field.”