Home   >   MOTDs   >   MOTD- Barcelona 2-1 Manchester City (agg 4-1)

MOTD- Barcelona 2-1 Manchester City (agg 4-1)

By on March 12, 2014

In the end it seemed quite obvious that the only reason Manchester City were actually expected to possibly pull off a miracle was purely through media hype. City needed a 3-0 victory at the Camp Nou to win the tie after a 2-0 defeat in the first leg, what would have been an astonishing feat considering no English team aside from Liverpool has ever beaten Barcelona on the Catalan giant’s own turf. More than that City would have had to keep Lionel Messi, who scored one of Barca’s two goals, out of the game. So when City came off with no miracle there will be no further disappointment added to that which they have already suffered.  In other words, the result was predictable.

The only bright side for City was that Barca didn’t score more. In the early stages of the match the former English champions came out strongly, even inflicting their hosts with some tiki-taka football, but Barca easily began to break through City’s high back line.  City’s answer to this was to stop Barca with some quite cynical challenges, and Barca really should have been awarded a stonewall penalty when Joleon Lescott clipped Messi from behind to keep the Argentina from controlling the ball near the penalty spot. Fernandinho then got himself in the book before Pablo Zabaleta’s challenge left the full-back lucky not to go in the book himself.

The first signs that Barca had begun to break down the City defense came soon after as Messi was slipped in down the right of goal, where the forward rounded Joe Hart, but lost lost out on a tap in as Vincent Kompany poked the ball away.  Soon after Gerardo Martino’s side were denied a sure goal when Jordi Alba found himself slipped in-between the City defense and squared it to Neymar, who passed it into the back of the open net, but the referee absurdly called the play back for offside on Alba.  Although David Silva attempted to bring the momentum back to City with a high-and-wide effort from the edge of the box, Barca continued to push forward.

Neymar came inches away from giving Barca the lead when he capitalized on Aleksander Kolarov’s slip in the thirty-eighth minute, taking Andres Iniesta’s long diagonal ball around the defender and in on goal.  Hart only just managed to tip the Brazilian’s low fifteen yard shot wide of the post, and was forced into action again moments later as Xavi slid a blistering effort at the English international from the left of goal, where Messi had found the midfielder’s darting run through the City defense.  Samir Nasri then sent a low volley at Jose Pinto on a City attack, but it was all Barca, who came close to an opener yet again when Messi tucked a neat through ball to the run of Neymar down the left side of the box.  Hart forced the winger wide, but Neymar managed to curl a shot in towards goal which Fernandinho headed off the line.

City, as they did at the start of the match, began the second half on top, with Edin Dzeko sending a low snapshot into the arms of Pinto seconds after the restart.  Yet Barca slowly began to dominate again, and Messi so nearly gave them the lead when he cut in from the right and curled a low shot onto the base of the post.  Dzeko came close to heading City in front in the fifty-first minute, but Barca sealed their aggregate win soon after as Messi grabbed hold of Cesc Fabregas deflected pass and dinked the ball above Hart from eight yards.

It only got worse for City as Zabaleta found himself sent off for arguing in the seventy-seventh minute, but the visitors scored a surprising consolation goal late on as Kompany directed Dzeko’s head down into the back of the next off a corner.  Yet of course, Barca replied with a goal of their own in the first minute of stoppage time.  Sergi Roberto slipped Iniesta around Hart on the right side of goal, where the midfielder stopped and cut it back for Dani Alves to slam into the back of the net past the wall of City defenders on the line. Classic Barca, always having to be the winners.
Man of the Match: Lionel Messi

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.