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Manchester City v Barcelona preview: Neither side deserves to lose

By on February 17, 2014

Honestly, it is a shame that either Manchester City or Barcelona will have to head out of the Champions League so early on in the competition. Each is one of, if not the, strongest club in its respective country, but in the end one of the two sides will end up crashing out of the world’s highest level club competition before eight other teams, some of which may be much lesser clubs including Bayer Leverkusen, Schalke 04 or possibly even Olympiakos.   So naturally one will try to predict which side will not have to face that humiliation, and minds generally head in the direction of the Catalan giants Barcelona. However, with the season Manchester City have had, the Premier League runners-up are putting in a serious bid to change the odds.

The Sky Blues have been in incredible goalscoring form, netting 35 goals in just 12 matches so far in 2014 at a goal-per-game average fractions under three.  Their goal-per-game average so far this season is also above the incredible figure of 2.9, having scored 119 goals in only 41 competitive matches so far in the 2013/2014 season.  Luckily for them their unique goalscoring ability has put themselves in a position to go top of the English Premier League table in a pivotal time in the league season.  In fact, City have been on such good form as of late, winning 8 of their last 10 matches, that even though both of the poor performances they have faced in the past month were in two of the last three matches manager Manuel Pellegrini came out saying that “there is just one club in Manchester and it’s ours,” which is, of course, claiming that the Premier League runners-up are by far more powerful than their cross-town rivals Manchester United.

However, that statement is likely just said to divert attention away from their side’s huge task of facing Barcelona, who have also been on fantastic, if not better, form than their English opponents.  The Blaugrana are joint leaders of the Spanish La Liga with 19 wins in 24 matches, and have also been on a fine scoring run, bagging 17 goals in their last five wins.  Chasing that elusive trophy, which the Catalans have won three times in the past eight seasons, Gerardo Martino‘s side are likely to put their full weight behind a tie that would take them a big step towards their first Champions League title since they beat Manchester United in the 2010/2011 competition. Yet Martino played up City’s strength, labeling the English side as “one of the greatest teams in the world,” while also pointing a finger towards some of their strongest players including Jesus Navas, David Silva, Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho.

The Argentine manager will have the luck on his side coming into the match as he is facing no injury concerns, while City are expected to be without Sergio Aguero, with Fernandinho also a maybe.  Thankfully, Yaya Toure, a figure that has been key to City’s midfielder since moving from Barcelona to Manchester in 2010, will be available for a match that is set to be his first time paying Barca after his move.  Yet if he will have a successful time up against his old club is all down to how it goes down on the pitch, as with two of some of the best sides in the world meeting up it is almost impossible to tell who will win, so make sure to tune in for our Match of the Day review following the match at the Etihad.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.