MANCHESTER City manager Pep Guardiola will have a Halloween trick up his sleeve when his old club Barcelona visits Tuesday (Beijing Time early this morning), according to the Catalan giants’ coach Luis Enrique.

    Guardiola sprang a surprise in the teams’ first Champions League Group C encounter at the Camp Nou two weeks ago, picking midfielder Kevin De Bruyne up front in place of star striker Sergio Aguero.

    Barcelona won 4-0, but it took the dismissal of City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo for the home side to take control and Luis Enrique expects Guardiola to present him with fresh dilemmas at the Etihad Stadium.

    “I don’t think they can be any more aggressive in terms of pressure, because they were pressing us up to the stand almost,” said Luis Enrique, who spent five years playing with Guardiola at Barcelona.

    “Pep’s Manchester City has a lot of things going for them. They can do many different things. You need to adapt to their football so you can press them.

    “But they have a lot of good qualities. Obviously playing here it’s different because we know what we did against them.

    “I sense there will be changes also because we know Pep and we know his ideas. We have to be attentive because Pep will try to touch the right key to get the right result.”

    Barcelona requires just a point to reach the last 16 and will be guaranteed top spot in Group C if the side beats City and Borussia Moenchengladbach fails to overcome Celtic.

    But Guardiola is missing several first-team players, with center-back Gerard Pique, left-back Jordi Alba and captain Andres Iniesta among those unavailable due to injury.

    Aguero is expected to return to City’s starting XI, having ended a six-game goal drought with a brace in Saturday’s 4-0 win at West Bromwich Albion.

    “We know Sergio Aguero is one of the best strikers in the world,” said Barca’s Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic.

    “When he starts to score, it’s bad for the other teams. He had a good day at the weekend. We hope tomorrow he can be easy and wait for the next game at the weekend.”

    Rakitic also expressed admiration for Guardiola, whose former squad number he now wears.

    “When I took the number four jersey, it was purely because of him,” he told the pre-match media conference Monday.

    “When I saw there was an opportunity to play with the number four, it was a great opportunity and one I took with both hands. He was one of the best in the world.

    “He’s fantastic and I hope he’s really successful in the future, just not tomorrow.”

    (SD-Agencies)