Carlos Puyol expecting tough Champions League test for Barcelona

Former Barcelona defender Carlos Puyol has claimed that the Catalan outfit will have to be at their best to overcome Manchester City in the last-16 stage of the Champions League.

The Spaniard, who currently acts as assistant to the director of football Andoni Zubizarreta at Camp Nou, believes that the clash will pit "two of the favourites" against each other.

"There's a long way to go to February and a lot of things can happen," said Puyol after picking up the Career Achievement prize at the AS awards.

"We'll have to wait until then, it's going to be a clash between two of Europe's biggest teams, two of the favourites."

The first leg will take place at the Etihad.