Pep Guardiola returns to the Nou Camp on Wednesday evening as Man City take on Barcelona in a friendly.
It will be the first time the City boss has managed at his former club since a 2016 Champions League group stage tie when a Lionel Messi hat-trick inspired the Catalan giants to a 4-0 victory.
The game kicks off at 8.30PM UK time and will see Barcelona transfer target Bernardo Silva line-up for the visitors, and it will be interesting to see what sort of reception the Portuguese playmaker receives.
City have picked up seven points from three Premier League games so far while Xavi’s side have four from two after their 4-1 win over Real Sociedad on Sunday.
But, with both sides having begun their seasons following arduous pre-season tours in the United States, why are they playing Wednesday’s fixture?
Here, Sportsmail explains they key parts about Wednesday’s clash …
Why are Barcelona playing Man City?
The friendly between the two superclubs is taking place for charity, raising funds for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) awareness through the Luzon foundation.
It is in honour of Juan Carlos Unzue, a former Barcelona player and coach who was diagnosed with the condtion just over two years ago.
All the money raised from the match will be going towards research for the disease.
ALS is an incurable neurodegenerative disease that sees patients suffer a progressive loss of function, with their life prognosis shortened by four to six years.
The game was originally due to take place last summer, but Covid restrictions in Spain would have capped the attendance at 30,000 and both clubs wanted the game to be played in a full stadium, with the Nou Camp having a capacity of 99,354.
A date in pre-season would’ve been preferred but with their lucrative summer tours, it was impossible to find a time that worked.
This led to the unusual decision of the game taking place after both sides had already begun their domestic seasons.
Man City were seen as an obvious opponent for the charity game due to links between the clubs, with Guardiola and City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain also having a close bond with Unzue.
Similarly, Barcelona wanted to help out their former player and coach while City were seen as an attractive fixture in terms of garnering interest.
