On the pitch It will be more like Silva vs Neymar, Milner vs Sanchez/Pedro, Negredo vs Messi, Yaya & Fernandinho & Aguero (playing almost as a 10) vs Busquets & Xavi & Iniesta. The only way i see Barca going through against City is if Messi and Neymar (if he's back by then) are in huge form, i strongly believe that Barca will have to score atleast 5 goals in that tie to qualify cause i simply can't imagine Barca stopping City from scoring atleast 2 goals (they might even score more than that in the 1st leg alone).
^^ True but City defence is far from the best, especially when playing against a strong side. The game against Arsenal is the best example. Our attack even without Neymar would be able to unlock them, especially at Camp nou considering their often abysmal away form. But our defence isnt the best either which certainly quite worrying when they come up against Aguero, Negredo, Dzeko, Toure, Nasri, Silva and Navas. City already stopped Bayern unbeaten streak and scored 4 goals over the 2 games at group stage so we cannot take them lightly just because their newcomer stats. I'm still confident we can outscore them because their defence is nowhere close to 2012 Chelsea or 2010 Inter. We dont have history of playing against them in the past so its harder to predict than let say if we're playing against Arsenal or AC Milan where we usually lost or draw away and win it at home.
City is going to score at least 2 goals so Barça needs at least 5? City is a tough team but not sure why we'll need to double their goal tally
The crucial match would be at Emirates, if we makes it 2-2 or snatch a narrow win, we would be much more save. City attack certainly capable of scoring at Camp nou within one-two mistakes we make. I still think we will overcome City, our players are much more experienced in this tournament and that's important. When we got thrashed by Bayern, we're without Messi and without coach.
I honnestly believe Barca would have still lost to this Bayern team last year even with a fit Messi and a coach, but not with such a huge goal difference though. City as a team might not be very experienced in the CL, but they have players who are. And also, they're playing so well offensively and scoring so many goals (at home most especially) that they're very confident that they can outscore any team (which they've often done this season). The speed of their counter attacks and srikers will be a huge problem for Barca imo.
By saying City will score atleast 2, i mean it's possible that they could score more. So Barca should be prepared to score up to 5 or more to advance on goal difference. As for why you'll need to double their tally, well you might be forced to if let's say the 1st leg ends in 2-0 victory for City (Milan surprisingly did it last season and i think we'll all agree that this City team is a much better team than that Milan team was) and then they manage to also score 1 at Camp nou early in the game.
It's alll well and fine when we just look at City's performance against other PL teams and Bayern but will they actually play with those players and formation against us? If they play with Aguero, Negredo, Silva, Navas/Nasri all together, they can only play with 2 midfielders and one of them will be Yaya Toure. Now he is a great player but if City plays with 2 midfielders and one of them is Toure then they will be exposed by our midfielders (Iniesta) and Messi. Don't forget we have some of the quickest players in attack ourselves, so Zabalata and Clichy/Kolarov pushing forward will also leave lot of space for Neymar/Pedro/Sanchez to run on the wings. So it's not that easy to osee their players and score to predict a score against us. We are a unique team and we play football in a very unique way which have both its advantages anddisadvantages. But if City opt to play with same players and formations as they have done in big matches in EPL and against Bayern then I am not afraid at all. After all we have the best midfield in the world and Messi occupies same space to make us even more stronger in that area. So good luck City if you play Aguero, Negredo, Nasri, Silva; Toure and Fernandinho as front six players because we have players who can easily dribble past 2 players in midfield (Toure, Fernandiho) and expose their defenders. And if Pellegrini opts for a more defensive approach and sacrifices one of his attackers, they will not be as potent in attack as they have been. So, this talk of needing 5 goals and more is just crap. Barcelona is a different animal all together and we can be beaten but beating us with a game plan of outscoring us will be suicidal for any team in the world. Tight defence and hitting us in counter is the only way to win against us over two ties.
The thing is that the only Barca midfielder capable of dribbling pass players like that is Iniesta but he hasn't been able to showcase that dribbling skill effectively often this season, offcourse Messi can dribble pass players but he's an attacker. Don't forget that Psg used a 4-4-2 formation very effectively against Barca especially at the Camp nou against this same Barca midfield, so i don't see why the midfield pair of Yaya & Fernandinho won't do a good job (with Aguero who's a hard worker also dropping down to defend and also Silva and Milner who's another hard worker coming in the middle) especially in their current form. I doubt their FB's will move up the pitch as often as they usually do, especially Zabaleta
Firstly, Nasri is injured. Secondly, I agree with most of your post but the last part is a bit outdated. Barca are pretty bad away from home in the CL and its more than likely City will score 2 goals and get 50% of the possession in the first leg. When you consider they allowed 2 goals against a Balotelli-less Milan, a Cavani-less PSG and Ajax.....
The match aint happening yet so off course we're all just assuming, but as already been mentioned, Milan made in 2-0 in first leg, Inter made it 3-1 in first leg. Inter attack in 2010 might be great if not spectacular but Milan was weak and we're still getting exposed often in counter attack . City scored against Bayern 4 times in 2 matches we're nowhere close to score just once over the 2 legs.
I wouldn't put too much stock in the 2nd leg.., we basically clocked out after 20 mins.. 1 goal was a pk 1 goal was our cb slipping on the grass to clear the ball, it went through his legs and collected by Milner to slot it home.. That game as a whole was an anomaly..
If a team conceided because their own mistake, there should be no excuse. I mean you make mistake, your opponent score, that's what happen in almost every game right? Muller body block on Alba or Pique's own goal, that's still a goal for Bayern.
But I would still put everything into context.. I am not going to say bayern are going to beat barca 7-0 again, and I wouldn't say mancity are going to be some kind of goal machine.. Their away record is still in question, especially in the camp nou. We will see what happens, in about a month.
The Bayern - City game is really not hard to undersatnd and imo there're no real excuses. Bayern played with their 1t team as opposed to City, City at the end of the night was the better team and were just 1 goal away from snatching the top spot from Bayern. As for Barca, don't forget that they also don't have a good "away game" record also in the CL..
Also Man City's bad away form no longer really applies. We'll see what happens in the coming weeks. A part of me is hoping that Man Utd wins tonight so that would mean Man City has to play Man Utd between the 2 legs with Barca. But then again, maybe Sunderland will give them a tougher match the way things are going.
Falcao suffers knee injury against a fourth division side in the French Cup. Had to be stretchered off, extent of injury to be determined but lots of speculation that he could miss the World Cup. Edit: Possibly damaged ACL is the rumor making the rounds.
Wow. That is an enormous blow to Colombia and to South America's hopes in general of keeping the UEFA countries out of the semis.
Many are blaming Ranieri for playing Falcao against an amateur team. Ranieri is blaming the ref. The guy who committed the foul is said to be devastated.
Wow! Great finish! United 3 minutes from advancing to the final on away-goals, then Sunderland 2 minutes away from advancing, now look to be heading to PKs.