Fabregas: Barca must show defensive strength

Barca travel to the Etihad Stadium to face City in the first leg of their last 16 tie aiming to go one better than their run to the semi-finals last season.

The Catalan club have been in imperious form in the current campaign and head to the Etihad Stadium on the back of a 6-0 hammering of Rayo Vallecano, a victory which stretched their impressive run to just one defeat in 18 games in all competitions.

City have also been in fine form this season and have scored a 74 goals in 20 games on home soil this season, so Fabregas is braced for a stern test against the Premier League title contenders.

"I think they (City) are a great team," Fabregas said. "They are doing well in the league, maybe well in Europe this year and obviously it's going to be a very competitive match, a good tie to watch from a fans point of view, so I'm very excited about it.

"Especially defensively I think we will have to be very strong, we have suffered a little bit lately because teams they only attack us two or three times a game and they get too much of what they deserved.

"We are attacking a lot. Teams, they just want defend against us and they play the counter-attack and we cannot allow them to play the way they want and we have to control the game very well, so we can score goals."

However, Fabregas insists the clash with Manuel Pellegrini's side holds no fears for the Catalan giants.

"A football player never worries about a game," he added.

"You just play with passion, you play with commitment, with determination, and you just want to win the game. There's nothing to worry about you just want to be the best team and go through."