Lionel Messi: Barcelona in good shape ahead of Champions League tie with Manchester City

Lionel Messi has told Manchester City he and Barcelona are back to their old selves ahead of next week's trip to the Etihad.

Barca face City in the last 16 of the Champions League for the second year running having come through 4-1 on aggregate last season.

City have since won a second Premier League title in three seasons while Barca changed their manager for the third successive summer, appointing Luis Enrique.

Enrique's own position appeared under threat in January amid reports of a rift with Messi, who was forced to make a public statement denying he planned to leave the club, but a January 4 defeat to Real Sociedad has been followed by 11 straight wins.

"The truth is that we are good," said Messi, who has 26 league goals - two short of his tally for last season. "Fortunately, after our poor start to the year after our game against Real Sociedad everything changed for us.

"We are now in a different dynamic and everything is going in the right direction. The team has confidence and there is a different attitude and a lot of determination. That is the reason why we are where we are.

"The truth is that this season I tried to start it in the best possible way. I was coming from a disappointing year, where I went through a lot of problems on and off the pitch.

"It was a challenge for me to change the image that I had given in the past season and try to return to be the player I had been in previous years. That was my aim and with that motivation I started this season."

Despite Barca's resurgence, Messi told Mundo Leo he expects the City tie to be "decided by details".

"It's a team that has a lot of great players," he said. "It's going to be a really difficult tie. It's going to be a beautiful challenge especially because City have reinforced their team a lot."

Watch delayed coverage of Barcelona v Malaga live on Sky Sports 5 this Saturday from 5.15pm.