Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola says his team's upcoming Champions League clash with Barcelona holds extra significance for him because of his history with the Catalan club.
City travel to the Camp Nou to face Barcelona on Oct. 19 in a Group C showdown.
Guardiola, who has been in charge at the Etihad since July, won the European Cup as a Barca player in the 1991-92 campaign and he coached the Blaugrana to Champions League glory in 2009 and 2011 before leaving for a three-year stint at Bayern Munich.
The 45-year-old told Catalan radio Rac 1: "This is not like any other game. It's always beautiful to return home."
Guardiola returned to Barcelona during the international break before attending the unveiling of Johan Cruyff's autobiography in London on Oct. 6.
Cruyff's son, Jordi, who is Maccabi Tel Aviv's sports director and played with Guardiola at Barcelona, praised the Spaniard and told Cadena Cope radio: "He is one of the best coaches in the world.
"Guardiola took Cruyff's philosophy, modernised it and personalised it. Pep was one of the few people related to football that came into our house when my father passed away."
Guardiola faced Barca in the Champions League semifinals in the 2014-15 campaign with his Bayern team losing 3-0 at the Camp Nou and falling 5-3 on aggregate.
Under the Spaniard, City have enjoyed a strong start to the campaign, winning six of their opening seven Premier League games to lead the standings.
Barca, now coached by Luis Enrique, have won their opening two group games -- a 7-0 rout of Celtic and a 2-1 victory at Borussia Monchengladbach -- to lead their group. City followed their 4-0 triumph over Monchengladbach with a 3-3 draw at Celtic and are two points behind the Catalans.
City resume the Premier League campaign at home to Everton on Saturday.