Guardiola: United have home advantage

Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola believes the fact the Champions League final is played at Wembley is an advantage to Manchester United.

The two sides collide in the decider of European football’s most prestigious club competition on Saturday, in a repeat of the 2009 final which saw Barcelona emerge victorious 2-0.

Guardiola says because the final is in England, his opponents will have an advantage while he also rejected suggestions that his side are far stronger than Sir Alex Ferguson’s outfit.

“It’s an advantage because they play there, it’s always more comfortable when you play at home,” Guardiola said.

“I don’t know the distance from Manchester to London, but one hour and a half is always more comfortable, for the supporters, for the team, for the refs, for everything. But we knew that at the beginning of the season so it’s not a problem for us to travel in London. ”

“We know in England the atmosphere helps lifts the football there in their country. So for us it is always a pleasure.”

Much of the media build-up has been about how the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta will simply be too good for a Manchester United side missing the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez – who both featured in Rome in the 2009 final.

And although Guardiola conceded Ronaldo is a big loss, he still expects a big challenge from Ferguson’s side.

“In the United team there are still a lot of top names that were in the final in 2009 although (Cristiano) Ronaldo has gone. Ronaldo is an important player but they are still a powerful team,” he said.

“They have a lot of depth and are capable of four or five different line-ups without any problem. They are always competitive and are one of the best teams in the world and have been for the last five or ten years.”

“I saw United play in the second leg of the (Champions League) semi-final against Schalke and they were very strong even without several important players.”

“We are up against (Wayne) Rooney, (Antonio) Valencia and Chicharito (Hernandez) who are very good players that can pressure us a lot and are very dangerous in space. On top of that, though, they have a strong defence. Ferguson has been at the top for many years and is one of the great names of football.”