Roma defender Kostas Manolas talkead about the upcoming Champions League fixture against Barcelona in the first leg of the quarter-finals: "The toughest opponent I've come up against was Ibrahimovic - the Greek said to Il Giornale - he is strong, quick and skilled. Messi? Guardiola is right when he says that there's no way to stop him. When you focus only on him, you forget that there are other ten players ready to hurt you. Of course Barcelona is a different team without him, we have to do our best. I admire Piqué, he is an elegant defender that can play the ball. They are the favourites, but you can never know in football".

Manolas discussed also some background stories on Juventus and Zenit interests in the past years: "Juventus and my agent had contacts when I played with Olympiacos. Zenit? They offered me a peculiar contract that I didn't want to sign, I was aware that if I stayed in Rome I would have been happy too. I feel well here, even though there's always some pressure from the supporters to do well. I want to win something with this club. Di Francesco works a lot on pressing the opponent to get the ball back as quickly as possible, but he also works on the defence. He deserves to coach Roma and his future with the club will be very bright".