Pedri talks Messi, Ronaldo, Steph Curry, Yamal, Cubarsi and Barcelona’s UCL dreams
Barcelona will focus on trying to get all their injured players back from injury as they take on PSG in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League in just over a week.
The first-leg is scheduled to take place at the Parc des Princes, with the return fixture set to kick off at the Olympic Montjuic Stadium a week later.
Frenkie de Jong is expected to be back in time for the first-leg, but may not start. Pedri, on the other hand, may or may not be a part of the squad list. Barcelona will certainly not want to risk him, and have him ready to start the second leg.
Speaking about his recovery, Pedri wrote on The Residency, “There is no specific date. But for now, everything is going well.”
On Barcelona youngsters, Champions League goals, and Lionel Messi
Barcelona may not be the favourites to win the Champions League, but are certainly in contention in one way or another. And according to Pedri, the tournament could swing either way.
“We are Barça. It’s very complicated, but of course we can [win the UCL].”
“I see the Barcelona youngsters with confidence and a lot of desire in the Champions League,” he added.
Barcelona are placed on the comparatively easier side of the bracket in the UCL, and will face off against one of Borussia Dortmund or Atletico Madrid should they manage to qualify for the semi-finals.
On the other side are the likes of Manchester City, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich. So as far as his prediction for the UCL is concerned, Pedri went with:
“Barcelona vs Man City. But a Barça vs Real Madrid final would not be bad either!”
He was also asked to pick out his best Barcelona performer so far this season, and went with the two breakthrough stars that are making the most noise right now: Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi.
“Difficult to answer, but I will stick with the youngsters. Pau Cubarsi and Lamine Yamal.”
And of course, Pedri was asked to choose between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, which is the age-old question in football.
“Messi, without a doubt. But Cristiano is a great player as well.”
Get to know more about Pedri
Apart from the obvious football questions, Pedri was also interrogated about his personal life by fans.
For example, he choose Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry as his favourite basketball player, and bananas as his favourite fruit.
The Spaniard was also asked whether he dreams about winning the Ballon d’Or in his career, to which he replied, “I would like to, like everyone else. But right now, I prefer to think about winning titles with Barcelona and Spain.”
And very interestingly, when quizzed about his own future, in about a decade, Pedri gave a nod to his idol Andres Iniesta, “Playing football, and bald. I have always wanted to go bald.”
As a midfielder who does not shoot an awful lot, Pedri does have a fair few memorable goals in Barcelona colours, including a fair few last season. He chose his beautiful strike vs Sevilla from the 2021/22 season as his favourite so far.
