Tello wary of Man City's attacking intent
Barcelona's Cristian Tello is relishing the opportunity to play against an English side for the first and knows a tough test lies in wait.
The Catalans visit Manchester City for the first leg of a hotly anticipated Champions League last 16 clash between two of European football’s heavyweights.
Speaking exclusively to FourFourTwo, 22-year-old Tello revealed: "I’ve never had the opportunity [to play against an English team]. I’ve always watched a lot of English football and love the pace of everything over there and the speed of Premier League counter-attacks. It’ll be a great experience."
The Blues and Blaugrana have scored a scintillating 137 league goals between them this season thanks to some of the continent’s most sought-after forwards in the form of Lionel Messi, Alexis Sanchez, Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo.
Tello, who has scored four goals in 23 appearances this term, including one in the Champions League against Celtic, admitted City’s strike-force will be "difficult to stop" before paying tribute to former Villarreal, Real Madrid and Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini’s attacking philosophy.
"I watch quite a lot of the Premier League and have seen a few of City’s games. Up front they’ve got players who score lots of goals and are very quick," he said.
"[Pellegrini] always lets his teams play. He gives them freedom and they never throw away the ball unnecessarily when they have it. His teams always play the ball out from the back. Here in Spain he had a lot of success, especially at Villarreal, and we know he’ll be a difficult rival."
INTERVIEW Tello: I love the Premier League but want to stay at Barcelona
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Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.