MOTD: Manchester City 1-2 Barcelona

By on February 24, 2015

The Etihad was the one fortress Luis Suarez could never break with Liverpool; indeed, he mustn’t have fond memories of Manchester City, who nicked the Premier League title out of Liverpool’s hands last season. Yet now he can afford to banish all fears of Manchester City, as easy as saying “Veni, Vidi, Vici,” Barcelona came, saw, and conquered. Suarez scored twice in the first thirty-eight minutes, more than he bagged in his previous six against City.

It was then up to Lionel Messi to put the Champions League Round of 16 tie to bed with a late penalty, but not only did the Argentine forward miss the spot-kick, he also put wide the rebound in front of an open goal. Ten-man City will take the result graciously. Taking a 2-1 deficit to the Nou Camp is a major challenge, but not insurmountable, and the result wasn’t even the most dispiriting part for City — that was their performance.

City were quite lucky to go away with even their slim chance in the second leg. Barca emphatically and comprehensively outplayed their hosts, who couldn’t keep up when there were even numbers on the pitch, much less down a man. Undisciplined, City have been reduced to ten men in each of their last three meetings with the Catalans. One might say they shot themselves in the foot, that is, if the two clubs began on equal footing at all; but if anything, on tonight’s evidence, the gap in class had widened.

Bar Sergio Aguero, who dragged City through to the knockout stages in the first place with a hat-trick against Bayern Munich, the Sky Blues had neither creativity nor spirit. Both David Silva and Samir Nasri drew a blank while Wilfried Bony’s substitute Champions League debut for City ended anti-climactically. In their best period at the start of the second half, the majority of City’s chances came from corners in which Vincent Kompany’s height provided one of their few advantages on the pitch. City were left to dishearteningly chase Barcelona’s perennial tiki-taka.

Inevitably, City’s patience grew tired and just seventeen minutes in Lionel Messi was allowed all the time in the world to float a near post cross into Suarez. The ball took a deflection on its way down, and on the turn, Suarez sliced a lovely, low half-volley into the far corner of the net. By halftime he would double his tally — after an incredible sequence of twenty passes Messi poked the ball wide left to Jordi Alba, who, in turn, saw his low cross tapped home by Suarez. On his return to England, Suarez made no hash of imposing his dominance again, whatever doubts may have arisen after critics noted his lack of goals so far in Spain.

City’s first shot on target came forty-three minutes in as Nasri curled a twenty yard effort just to Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s left, however, they did regain some of their usual spark on the other side of the half. Edin Dzeko sent a free header from a forty-ninth minute corner straight at Ter Stegen, and soon afterwards Aguero curled a dipping twenty-five yard effort just wide of the post. The game began to spread end-to-end, and spearheaded by Aguero, City got one back. Gael Clichy dispossessed Messi near the halfway line, and just two passes later Silva’s back-heel neatly put the ball on a silver platter for Aguero to stride through and clip a neat finish over Ter Stegen and into the back of the net.

Clichy, though, would turn from hero to naught in the seventy-third minute as he found himself sent off for a high, reckless challenge on Dani Alves. It was downhill from there for City, and only a penalty save from Hart with one of the last touches of the match and an uncharacteristic miss from Messi saw City salvage anything from the match. Certainly, a different team will need to be on show for them to get anything from the second leg.
Man of the Match: Luis Suarez

Photo credit: soccer.ru

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.