Anderson, the Manchester United midfielder, says the Champions League semi-final with Barcelona will be the most important game of his life.

While Liverpool and Chelsea meet in one semi-final, Manchester United must revisit the Nou Camp — the scene of their famous triumph against Bayern Munich in 1999 — with Barcelona standing between Sir Alex Ferguson’s team and a place in the final in Moscow on May 21.

Anderson, who celebrated his 20th birthday on Sunday, has become an integral part of Ferguson's squad this season, growing in confidence and stature as the season has progressed. He has started every one of the Champions League knockout matches against Lyons and Roma and with the semi-final looming. But the first leg of the semi-final at the Nou Camp next Wednesday represents another significant step forward for the rising young star.

"It is like a final for me," Anderson said. "Playing against Barcelona is the most important game of my life - it is like the final of the Champions League. In fact, I think it is a sort of final as we are the two teams with the best record in this season's competition."

Anderson added that settling into life at United has been made far easier than he imagined due to the support he has received from the players and coaching staff.

"I joined Manchester United straight after playing in the Copa America with Brazil and the contrast was difficult, he added. "But that is normal. It was the same when I went to Porto," he added. "Cristiano Ronaldo has helped me a lot to adapt and other players, like [Patrice] Evra, [Michael] Carrick, [Wes] Brown and [Gerard] Pique have all made life easier. We have a great squad, and the one difference is that you work a lot more here.

"I have never worked so hard before as the training sessions are very tough. You have to think about football 24 hours a day."

However, Anderson reserved special praise for his manager. "For me he is the best, a special person," he said. "From time to time he can appear distant, but he knows everything about the team, and he really likes to work with the youngsters. Look at what he did with David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and now Cristiano Ronaldo. It is a real honour to work with a coach like him."