Ibrahimovic: Barca are world's best

AC Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic is chomping at the bit to renew acquaintances against his former side whom he says is the “world’s best team”.

Milan welcome Barcelona to the San Siro on Wednesday with both sides having already progressed to the next phase of the Champions League.

Ibrahimovic departed from Barcelona in 2010 after just a solitary season with the Catalan giants and he is under no illusions of the mammoth task awaiting his team.

"It will be a very exciting, fantastic game," the stylish Swede said to uefa.com.

"We will be playing against the best team in the world, without doubt. Even when I left the team, I knew I'd left the best team in the world."

The former Inter Milan attacker revealed that leaving the Nou Camp was the only option for him after growing disillusioned with Barcelona.

"For me and all the other parties involved, I think the best solution was to leave the club," he said.

"Given the results for both sides, it was the best solution. For me, it's important that you're happy when you play. If you're happy, it makes it easier for you. The way you feel off the pitch is the way you feel inside. I struggled there in the end, so the best thing was to move. I was a man. I stood up, we found a solution and I moved."

Nevertheless, despite his departure from the defending European champions, Ibrahimovic believes that his current employers Milan are bigger in stature than Barcelona.

"I think Milan are the biggest club I have ever played with," he said. "I felt at home from my first day here - they welcomed me with open arms."

"Some people said that it was impossible to make this move [after playing for Inter], but I'd already moved from Juventus to Inter and I think that was even harder. The past and the future don't bother me. I just try to give my best and achieve results for myself and the club I represent."