MANCHESTER -- Samir Nasri said it would be pretentious to compare himself with Xavi and Andres Iniesta, and believes Lionel Messi is on another galaxy from him.
The Manchester City midfielder is set to face Barcelona on Tuesday in the Champions League and said he is an admirer of the Catalans' style of football.
But while Nasri has often been described as a Barcelona-style player, he thinks it would be immodest to liken himself to their World Cup-winning midfielders.
And although he believes Barcelona's record goalscorer Messi is one of the two best players on the planet, he feels City striker Sergio Aguero is on a similar level to their other attacking talents.
"I think Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo play in their own galaxy," Nasri said in a news conference. "They compete with each other. The rest, [like Luis] Suarez and Neymar are on the same level as Sergio. When he is fit, Sergio can lift the team and score goals."
Nasri nominated Iniesta, the scorer of the 2010 World Cup final winner, as his favourite member of Barcelona's passing contingent.
"Xavi and Iniesta were the best midfield in the world for six or seven years," he added. "I like the way they play. I prefer Iniesta to Xavi because Xavi keeps the ball better but Iniesta can do more things. It is too pretentious to compare myself to them.
"I think every single player wants to play this kind of game. Barcelona is a massive club with a great philosophy of football. It is in their tradition. It can be fun to play your game to dictate the game but if you give them the ball it is not fun."
Manager Manuel Pellegrini confirmed that James Milner, who missed Saturday's win over Newcastle with a knee problem, is fully fit now.