City left themselves with a lot of work to do in the second leg if they’re to progress to the next round of the Champions League, after a 2-1 loss against Barcelona at Eastlands put them at a huge disadvantage in the tie.
Eliaquim Mangala found himself on the bench again after starting against Newcastle at the weekend, being replaced by Martin Demichelis alongside Vincent Kompany. Kolarov also got dropped, being replaced by Clichy. In midfield, Fernando came in for the suspended Yaya Touré, whilst James Milner took Fernandinho’s place in the side. Up front, Džeko kept his place next to Agüero after impressing against The Magpies on Saturday.
The first half started in the fashion that most would have expected it to, and in the fashion it would go on – with Barcelona on the ball and controlling the game. City tried to win the ball back off their Spanish opponents, but looked a lot more panicked by the occasion and couldn’t hold on to possession for long spells. It took just 14 minutes for Barça to capitalise on City’s nervousness, with Luis Suárez scoring the opener. The ball was crossed in from the left towards the Uruguayan striker, who headed it against Kompany only to luckily receive the ball back, and be able to slot it past Joe Hart and into the far corner. Kompany looked sluggish in defence, and on another day would have been able to get back and stop Suárez getting the ball back so easily.
15 minutes later, Suárez doubled his tally with Barcelona’s second goal. Lionel Messi picked up the ball and did one of his trademark weaving runs, before playing the ball out wide to Jordi Alba on the left. Alba took the ball under control, before taking his time to pick a cross, which Suárez slid onto perfectly to nudge it away from Joe Hart and into the net, to double the lead. At that point, it was starting to look like Barça would be leaving with a lot more than a two-goal lead.
City managed to stem the flow of goals until half-time, and came out for the second period with a new energy. They fought harder, and could have been back in the game within 5 minutes of the second half starting, when Kompany flicked on a corner to an unmarked Džeko, who headed straight at Ter Stegen – either side of the keeper, and it would probably have been a goal.
City did manage to get themselves back in the game on 69 minutes, when Clichy won the ball off of Lionel Messi just inside the Barcelona half, with the ball eventually ending up at the feet of David Silva. He played it off the back of his foot, before Agüero steamed in in front of substitute Wilfried Bony to take the ball, before smashing it past a sprawling Ter Stegen.
However, any hopes City might have had of getting back into the game were hugely diminished five minutes after the goal, when Gael Clichy got sent off for a second booking that means he’ll now miss the second leg in Catalonia. Bacary Sagna came on to replace his compatriot at left-back, and it’ll be between him or Kolarov in terms of who starts at left-back in the return leg.
Barcelona could have had a third in injury time, when Pablo Zabaleta brought down Messi in the box. However, Joe Hart got down well to his left to keep the penalty out, before Messi put the rebound wide of the far post with a diving header. That save from Hart gives City a glimmer of hope, because if they’d gone into the second leg needing to score at least three, it’s quite a daunting task. Scoring two is still pretty daunting, but not so much.
Whilst the defeat is disappointing, it could have been worse. City coped well with having ten men against the second or third best team in the world, and Sergio Agüero showed signs that he’s getting back to his brilliant best after a poor few games recently (prior to the Stoke visit of course). Now, we need to put this tie out of our minds for a couple of weeks, and focus on the task at hand – a league title challenge.
