Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, 3rd left tries to get through the Manchester City defence during a Champions League, round of 16, second leg, soccer match between FC Barcelona and Manchester City at the Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona
Wed, 3:45am
Man City v Barcelona
H 3.6, D 3.7, A 2.2
Barcelona’s passage to an eighth straight Champions League quarterfinal could be blocked by a Manchester City team desperate to end three years of underachievement in the competition.
For the English champions, there’s also the matter of avenging an exit at the hands of Barcelona at the same stage last season, when losses in both legs of the last 16 — for a 4-1 aggregate defeat — demonstrated the gulf between the clubs.
So what has changed in the last 12 months? Barcelona has a different coach in Luis Enrique, an improved strike force after Luis Suarez joined Lionel Messi and Neymar, but perhaps a less dominant midfield as the impact of Xavi Hernandez starts to wane.
Before Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Malaga, Barcelona had won 11 consecutive games in all competitions to bring an end to a worrying period that featured below-par performances and speculation about a falling-out between Messi and Enrique.
While the Spanish team breezed into the knockout stage with a match to spare, City squeezed through thanks to an astonishing late turnaround against Bayern Munich in its next-to-last group game and then a 2-0 victory in a win-or-bust match at Roma.
City failed to advance from its Champions League group in back-to-back seasons, but has progressed for two seasons in a row to finally make an impact in Europe and reward the heavy spending of its owner from Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Al Nahyan, since 2008.
City also appears to have gotten over a slump in results over January, with big wins over Stoke and Newcastle in its last two Premier League games reviving its title defense and rediscovering the attacking swagger that characterized the team’s last few seasons.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini believes it could be different this time against Barcelona: his team is fresher — owing to early exits in both domestic cup competitions this season — and has gained more experience in Europe.
Barcelona, spurred on by the sparkling Messi, starts as favorite but expect a more streetwise City over the two legs compared to last year’s meetings. Steve Douglas, Sports Writer, AP/Odds by Betfair
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