The Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has hailed Manchester United as an "extraordinary" team ahead of the Champions League final. Guardiola watched his team beat Espanyol 2-0 in the Catalan derby at the Camp Nou to move within a point of winning the title, just as Sir Alex Ferguson's side had done earlier in the day with a 2-1 home victory over Chelsea.
Barça now look set to wrap up the Primera Division title at Levante on Wednesday night, giving them more than two weeks to prepare for the showpiece at Wembley on 28 May. But Guardiola, who featured as a player in Barça's first European Cup success at the old Wembley stadium in 1992, admits he is wary of United's quality and strength in depth.
"They played a Champions League semi-final [second leg against Schalke] with a team full of reserves and they won 4-1 – that says everything you need to know about the quality they have," the Barça coach said on Sunday. "They have a great squad with two great teams and extraordinary players. We will try to wrap up the league and then we'll think about the final."
Xavi echoed the sentiments of his coach. "We're almost there and we want to win it [the title] as soon as possible, so we can have our heads focused on Wembley," he said.
The Barcelona captain, Carles Puyol, was deemed unfit to start against Espanyol but Guardiola says he will be ready to play at Wembley.
"He was out for three months [recently] and the doctors decided he wasn't in shape to play today, but he is building up his fitness and will feature more in the next few games," he said.
The left-back Eric Abidal came on for the last 20 minutes and Guardiola revealed the Frenchman, who recently returned from an operation to remove a tumour from his liver, could also be ready to play in the Champions League final.
"Abi had a few minutes the other day [in the Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid] and played for longer today," he said. "We hope he can gradually play more and more and build up his fitness for the final."
Andrés Iniesta and the former United defender Gerard Piqué scored the goals in Sunday's win which meant Barca stayed eight points clear of Real with just three games left.
Iniesta said: "We have a Champions League final ahead, so I don't think we will relax. We [Barca and United] know each other well – it will be a special final."
And Sergio Busquets added: "I'm confident we can win it, and bring some joy to our fans. The league is great, but it's not as prestigious as the Champions League."
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