[dpak3000]

ANDERSON PRIMED FOR BARCA CLASH

Manchester United midfielder Anderson has declared next week's Champions League showdown with Barcelona as the most important game of his life.

The Brazil international, who celebrated his 20th birthday on Sunday, has grown in confidence and stature as the season has progressed following last summer's move from Porto.

Anderson has become an integral member of boss Sir Alex Ferguson's side, notably starting all of the Champions League knock-out ties against Lyon and Roma over the past few weeks.

But the first leg of the semi-final against Barca at the Nou Camp next Wednesday represents another significant step forward for the rising young star.

"It is like a final for me," assessed Anderson.

"Playing against Barcelona is the most important game of my life - it is like the final of the Champions League.

"In fact, I think it is a sort of final as we are the two teams with the best record in this season's competition."

There are those who have compared Anderson to Barcelona and Brazil great Ronaldinho, who will unfortunately not figure next week due to injury.

Although both come from Porto Alegre and started their careers at Gremio, Anderson shies away from such a comparison.

"For me he will always be a true great, but you cannot compare him with me," insisted Anderson.

"He has done everything in football and I've done almost nothing. I am just starting, but I am proud that people see similar things in us."

Anderson concedes settling into life at United has been made far easier than he imagined due to the support he has received.

Sir Alex Ferguson and Cristiano Ronaldo, whom Anderson describes as "a special player" have both played a significant role in his adaptation to the Premier League.

"I joined Manchester United straight after playing in the Copa America with Brazil and the contrast was difficult, but that is normal. It was the same when I went to Porto," he added.

"Cristiano Ronaldo has helped me a lot to adapt and other players, like (Patrice) Evra, (Michael) Carrick, (Wes) Brown and (Gerard) Pique have all made life easier.

"We have a great squad, and the one difference is that you work a lot more here.

"I have never worked so hard before as the training sessions are very tough. You have to think about football 24 hours a day."

Reserving praise for Ferguson, Anderson noted: "For me he is the best, a special person.

"From time to time he can appear distant, but he knows everything about the team, and he really likes to work with the youngsters.

"Look at what he did with David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and now Cristiano Ronaldo.

"It is a real honour to work with a coach like him."

FOX Sports on MSN - Champions League - Anderson primed for Barca clash

For the new United players, they are starting to see what April football is like at Manchester United and for sure the matches against Barcelona are the biggest of Anderson and Nani's young careers. Anderson has been tremendous all year even though I personally did not expect much from someone so young and who did not have that much first team experience at FC Porto. And I think if you ask all the top sides in Europe, they would MUCH rather have Anderson than Ronaldinho.

[funkdoctorspock]

Its great that Anderson is excited to face Barcelona. You want the youngsters to go into big matches with little fear. The midfield battle is going to be very interesting between these two and it definitely will be one of Anderson's biggest set of matches to date.

As for the Ronaldinho knock. For some reason, Barcelona fans, press/media, and fans generally have turned there back on him. When fit, he's been just as effective as he has in years past. Why he is being blamed for Barcelona's failures this season is joke. The blame should squarely be put on the board for selecting the wrong striker to join them. Theirry Henry has not helped Barcelona get better.

[simpsom]

hopefully he got the chances to play at that match...it is sure a special match for any young player like anderson or nani..and hopefully he can score one or two goal during the match
just a out of topis question.where is nani?havent seen him for a long time.

[ZEUS]

So Ando, maybe a goal against Barca? What do you say?

Considering his progress this year , I think he'll become better than Ronaldonho, if he keeps improving! My admiration to this young lad!

[Anderson]

nani has a thigh strain i think thats why park played against arsenal i think

[GocartMozart]

you can't compare the two players. they are not even remotely similar. Anderson is far more the terrier box-to-box player that is incredibly tough in the tackle. he has a shit shot as we've seen and while he has some cool nutmegs, he's not ronaldinho. The two really shouldn't be compared at all. That said, he's absolutely the type of player that Brazil needed in their midfield. Hopefully he plays the type of football he's capable of.