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Manuel Friedrich insists Bayer Leverkusen should not have too much respect for Barcelona
The experienced defender is eagerly anticipating the Champions League round of 16 tie versus the Catalans, and has urged his team-mates to belief in themselves
13-Feb-2012 4:30:48 PM
By Stefan Coerts
Bongarts
Bayer Leverkusen defender Manuel Friedrich is looking forward to the first leg of his side's Champions League round of 16 encounter with Barcelona on Tuesday.
The experienced centre-back stressed that the BayArena team are highly motivated for the match against Pep Guardiola's men, and added that they should not have too much respect for their opponents.
"We should have respect, but not too much. You just have to look forward to the challenge, give everything, run until you need to see a doctor and then see what comes from that," Friedrich said to Uefa.com.
"Every football player dreams about measuring himself against the best players in the world. Our manager doesn't have to say anything to us about this.
"I mean everyone knows their players, everyone knows the club and everyone knows how they play. You don't have to get motivated for a game like that or be in the right mind," he admitted.
Tuesday's game in Germany kicks off at 20.45CET.
Starting in November and continuing through to the middle of February, Goal.com is publishing exclusive extracts from Graham Hunter's highly-anticipated new book, 'Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World'. The last extract looked at how Barca suffered rare disappointment at the hands of Real Madrid in a gripping finale to last season's Copa del Rey. Don't miss it!
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