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MOTD preview: Barcelona v Manchester City

By on March 12, 2014

Everything off the pitch that could possibly give Manchester City the momentum to turn their Champions League tie around after their 2-0 loss to Barcelona in the first leg went just right for the English club.  City won their first silverware of the season, top scorer Sergio Aguero returned from injury, and perhaps most importantly, Barcelona have lost two of their three matches following the first leg.  Now all City have to do is perform on the pitch.

However, coming into the return leg it will still take somewhat of a miracle to defeat the Spanish champions on their home turf.  Despite their recent troubles, Barcelona are undoubtedly still one of the strongest side’s in the world.  The Catalan giants have scored thirteen goals in their last five matches, and prior to their recent loss to Real Sociedad they had only lost one of their last twenty matches.  While City are also coming into the second leg off the back of a loss, they themselves had only suffered two defeats in their previous twenty-six matches prior to that loss to Wigan Athletic, one of them being their first leg loss to Barca.  The Sky Blues also have more wins than their hosts in the competition so far, but as they have never before qualified out of the Group Stages a lack of experience could do them in.

Yet City captain Vincent Kompany noted that Manuel Pellegrini’s side have been acustomed to pull off dramatic turn-around, citing their last-gas 3-2 win over Queens Park Rangers on the last day of the 2011/2012 Premier League season that clinched them their first ever Premier League title. “It’s one of those games where obviously everyone has to be at their best,” Kompany said in a pre-match inerview at the Nou Camp.

“You won’t achieve anything if you have passengers but we have done it before performance-wise. That is what we are trying to get out of everyone tomorrow.

“Football is made out of nights like this, it is why you play football.

“It is a tough ask, but emotionally you won’t really beat what we experienced on the day we beat QPR.

“If anything should give you belief about chasing lost causes it should be that day.

“I am really excited about this one and the whole team is the same.

“We will try to make the best of it. The motivation and the belief are still there.”

But whether City make use of that momentum is yet to be seen.

MANCHESTER CITY STARTING LINEUP
Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Kolarov; Fernandinho, Touré, Milner, Silva, Nasri; Agüero

BARCELONA STARTING LINEUP
Valdés; Piqué, Alba, Alves, Fàbregas, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Neymar, Mascherano, Sergio

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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.