Both teams have key players back after injuries. Lionel Messi came off the bench to score in Barca’s 4-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday, while Kevin De Bruyne got through the whole of Manchester City’s 1-1 draw against Everton without ill-effects.
Fabian Delph is highly doubtful for City – not that he would be likely to start anyway – while Jordi Alba and Jasper Cillesen are both missing for Barca and Sergi Roberto has a hamstrung problem.
Fabian Delph is highly doubtful for City – not that he would be likely to start anyway – while Jordi Alba and Jasper Cillesen are both missing for Barca and Sergi Roberto has a hamstrung problem.
Pep Guardiola admitted on Saturday that after three games without a win his players may be lacking confidence for the trip to the Camp Nou. They were very unfortunate not to beat Everton, though, missing two penalties and drawing Maarten Stekelenburg into two other stunning saves. The Everton manager Ronald Koeman described City as the best team he had faced in his entire managerial career.
Nonetheless, having begun the season with ten straight wins in all competitions there is a sense that the City bandwagon is stuttering. Barca have also had their problems, two defeats and a draw in their opening six games of the season representing their worst start to a season since 2005. Saturday’s demolition of Depor, though, restored a sense of well-being.
Nonetheless, having begun the season with ten straight wins in all competitions there is a sense that the City bandwagon is stuttering. Barca have also had their problems, two defeats and a draw in their opening six games of the season representing their worst start to a season since 2005. Saturday’s demolition of Depor, though, restored a sense of well-being.
PAST MEETINGS
The sides met in the round of 16 in both 2014 and 2015, Barca winning with relative comfort on both occasions: 4-1 on aggregate and then 3-1 on aggregate. In 2013-14, City were holding their own in the first leg at the Etihad when Martin Demichelis was sent off in conceding a penalty, which Messi converted. A late Dani Alves goal effectively ended the tie.
In 2014-15, two Luis Suarez goals in the first half at the Etihad gave Barca a decisive advantage and although Sergio Aguero pulled one back and Joe Hart saved a late Messi penalty, Ian Rakitic’s goal in the Camp Nou sealed Barca’s win.
TO PRESS OR NOT TO PRESS?
On the one previous occasion on which Guardiola has faced Barcelona, as Bayern Munich manager in 2015, he went to the Camp Nou and tried to press Barca, presumably on the logic that nobody else ever tried to do that and the shock factor might prove decisive and yield at least an away goal. As it was Barca sliced through Bayern at will and could have been out of sight before Guardiola backed off and adopted a more orthodox approach.
Three goals in the final quarter of an hour were, nonetheless, a fitting refection of Barca’s superiority. Guardiola confirmed again on Saturday that his vision of the game demands his side should dominate possession, suggesting he will once again try to take the game to Barca. It may work – it is true that Barca are not used to being pressed – but as Koeman pointed out, Everton scored with their one real attempt on goal and if you give Barca four chances, they’ll score three.
City’s struggles to keep a clean sheet – just one in the league so far this season – are a major concern.
A BACK THREE?
Koeman said he’d predicted City would play with a back three on Saturday – perhaps Guardiola had let something slip at one of their regular dinners – and so he played a front three to try to take advantage, denying City the extra man at the back Guardiola craves. It would be an extraordinarily bold step for City to field a back three against Barca given the nature of their front three, even if it would offer an extra man in midfield who perhaps could help flood Barca higher up the pitch.
