Ahead of tonight’s friendly between FC Barcelona and Manchester United, Manchester United assistant coach Mike Phelan has gone on to say that the Catalans are still the benchmark when it comes to club football.

FC Barcelona are scheduled to face Manchester United in Gothenburg in Sweden tonight at 20:00 hours CET. In a press conference before the game, Mike Phelan said that the team from Spain are still the benchmark and everybody at United was aware that the challenge is to close the gap on the Camp Nou outfit.

“I think there is a gap there. But there’s a gap for a lot of teams, not just United. Barcelona have been exceptional – they’ve combined experience and youth and maintained success. The challenge for us is to compete. It will take time but we’re not that far away. We’ve been in three European finals and we’ve won one. Now we’re hungry to continue that. Barcelona are the ones to catch.”

Source : manutd.com; Image Credit: Michael Regan/Getty Images