Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has said that he wants his former club Manchester United to knock Real Madrid out of the Champions League.

Madrid will take on the Premier League leaders in the last 16 and will host Sir Alex Ferguson's side in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.

"Because of my own past, I would like United to go through," ESPNSoccernet quotes him as saying.

"I have spoken with [Rio] Ferdinand, and things are very good in their dressing-room - although Madrid are also in great form."

Pique was on United's books from 2004 until 2008 when he left Old Trafford to return to Barcelona.