Busquets believes that nothing beats United before the shock of Barcelona

Do you think you've seen a lot of Lionel Messi's goals? You do not have anything on Sergio Busquets.

"We have the chance to train with him every day," said the 30-year-old Barcelona midfielder. "I spent the last 11 years with him, so you have a greater concentration of him in these tasks.

"We are not so surprised by everything. He did not score any goals on the field that we did not see in training and he also repeated the goals he scored in previous seasons. It is unique.

The last thing most players sitting for an interview want to do is ask questions of other players, but those in Barcelona do not seem to be asking questions about Messi, who scored his 33rd goal of the season Saturday against Atletico Madrid, except to seal his 10th title and his eighth title in La Liga.

During his stint in Barcelona's first team, Busquets has always had Messi by his side. He saw him go from the shy teenager to the captain of the club who took the microphone after a friendly last summer and who told Camp Nou that the Champions League would be the priority of the club. club this season.

"We did not know he was going to say that," said Busquets. "But all the clubs want to do well in the Champions League, is not it? It is the most prestigious trophy that exists and it is even more important to us after not having won it for so many years. & # 39;

Four years later, Barcelona defeated Juventus 3-1 in the 2015 finals in Berlin. It's been just decades of injury, but with Messi, Gerard Pique and Busquets as the backbone of the team, they feel they should have won more – and it's their year.

The good news for Manchester United is that, while it is gearing up for the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final at Old Trafford, Wednesday, Busquets, a two-final veteran against United, admits that the No. The team reached its highest historic level at Wembley in 2011.

"It was the best performance of Pep Guardiola era," says Busquets about the 3-1 win. "It was the pinnacle of everything we did at the time.

"It was a time when our success seemed the most emphatic and this game was the perfect demonstration. The idea of ​​how we wanted to play and of our superiority in the field was clear. It was the ultimate highlight.

Barcelona midfielder Xavi later confessed that Wayne Rooney had told him that he had only 10 minutes left: "That's enough. You won, you can stop playing ball now. & # 39; Michael Carrick would also later admit that it was the best football he had ever seen.

"Sometimes you can feel that frustration on the part of the other team when you're at the top," Busquets said. "We prepared very well and caused a lot of damage, keeping only the ball and running after them.

"That recognition from them later – and we're talking about great players and a coach like Sir Alex Ferguson – is the greatest eulogy you can receive."

Busquets, Messi and Spades are not the only survivors of Barcelona this afternoon. Eric Abidal played the final just two months after an operation to remove a tumor from his liver. he is now the sports director of the club.

"His recovery brought us strength," says Busquets. "It was very difficult for the locker room when we heard the news. I remember when he told us. His minds were much higher than ours.

"We were in a bad situation and it was he who encouraged us by saying that in a short time he was going to train and play again. Thank goodness, it went well, his recovery changed the mood of the team. & # 39;

Abidal played in the final minutes of Jose Mourinho's UEFA Champions League semi-final victory over Real Madrid, then started the final against United, even winning the trophy at the end.

"He had been away for a long time, but we knew what Eric was able to do before the illness." Physically, he was a colossus, and the decision to let him lift the trophy was a sign of the group's solidarity and camaraderie. . "

Busquets must be nostalgic for those times when Barcelona was so dominant? "I do not like making comparisons, but I think the best time was Pep's," he says.

"However, football does not stay the same, so you can not compare what we are doing now with what we have done at the time or what we will do in the future."

Xavi and Andres Iniesta miss him, right? & # 39; Of course, yes. These are unique players in my life and I have spent so many years with them. We have completed well and we come from La Masia (Barcelona Youth Academy), which makes it even more special. & # 39;

"We could understand each other at a glance. The opponent did not know what we were going to do but we knew at a glance. It was a huge advantage.

"We had lived the same things, crossed the youth team, maintained a personal friendship. It will be very difficult for another midfielder like this one to get out of La Masia.

Another Messi may never emerge. His partnership with striker Luis Suarez seems stronger than ever.

"It's not just his goals, but everything he brings to the team," says Busquets de Suarez. "The pressure he puts on the defenses, the way he holds the ball, the way he fights with the rival defenses, all this gives us so much."

On Wednesday, the two players will be the biggest threat, while Busquets quietly holds the fort behind them, pushing the pbades and eliminating the dangers.

Winning the European Cup this season would be a good way to commemorate his first season, ten years ago, while he was starting out as a skinny kid pushed into the first team by new coach Guardiola and the # 1 39, ended in Rome when Barca beat United 2-0.

"I'm still the same player," he says. & # 39; Just with more experience. My job is always to put my qualities at the service of the team.

"The United States is better now under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer," he says. "It does not bother them to let you take the ball because sometimes they know that the opponents are technically better, but as we've seen against PSG, they take advantage of their counterattacks and their free kicks. If you make mistakes, they capitalize.

If they progress in front of United, there could be a meeting with Guardiola in the final. "I'll sign for it now," he said.