GOAL

Sergio Aguero "cannot compare" to Lionel Messi, according to Javier Mascherano, who thinks his Barcelona team-mate is peerless.

The striker might be Manchester City's best attacker in the eyes of many, but the Barcelona player thinks his club team-mate has no equal

Messi has been in fantastic form for Luis Enrique's side in 2015 as they have romped to 11 successive victories in all competitions since being beaten 1-0 at Real Sociedad on January 4.

Manchester City striker Aguero is a close friend of Messi – whom he will face in Tuesday's European tussle – but fellow compatriot Mascherano does not think the Premier League champions have anyone to match the four-time Ballon d'Or winner.

"Aguero and Messi are very talented," he told Barcelona's official website. "Aguero is a great player with a good burst of pace in tight spaces and is fantastic in one-on-ones.

"He’s very difficult to mark but no one compares to Messi because he’s the best and no one is at his level."

Mascherano also suggested that Barca's impressive win streak has them heading into the Champions League last 16 tie in good spirits and hopes they can replicate 2013-14's efforts, when they eliminated Man City at the same stage 4-1 on aggregate.

"If we keep up our current good form then we’ll have a great chance," he added. "We have all the tools to put in a good performance in Manchester.

"Over the past year, we’ve made more squad changes than they have and we have more new names. They have the same coach and will try to go about things the same way. It’ll be a similar tie and hopefully we’ll get the same result."

Before their European clash at the Etihad Stadium in midweek, Barca welcome Malaga in La Liga while Man City host Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday.