Barcelona versus Manchester City

This is a guest post from Peter Jonson.

On Wednesday at the Camp Nou, Manchester City will face Barcelona, hoping to get their revenge for two defeats to the Spanish side in the last three years in the competition.

City were able to advance to the semi-final stage of last year’s tournament, possibly because they avoided meeting Barcelona before then. The previous two years, they had faced the Catalan giants and been defeated comfortably on both occasions in the knockout stage.

This time around, Pep Guardiola is in charge of the Blues and he is looking forward to a return to face his former charges. He had years and years of success with Barcelona, changing the way they played football and how the game itself, and the beauty of it, was viewed around the world.

Heading into this encounter, City have not won in their past three matches. They played well against Everton, yet were still unable to grab all three points, thanks largely due to two missed penalties, whilst they only took one point against Celtic in their previous Champions League tie and were then roundly defeated by Tottenham in the Premier League.

As such, there is an element of pressure on Guardiola as he returns to the Nou Camp – although a point on Wednesday would undoubtedly be a good achievement for his side. Whether you back City to win, think they will get a point, or fancy Barcelona to grab the victory, there are plenty of slots online for you to look at.

Guardiola will look towards Sergio Aguero to fire in the goals if his side are to come away from this fixture with anything. The forward missed from the spot against Everton and his confidence is low after recent struggles with Argentina, but he is coming up against his closest friend in football, Lionel Messi, and will want to show everyone that he is still the man to watch.

Behind him for City, Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva will be the key individuals in midfield with their creativity. If those two can find time and space on the ball, then the Blues will always pose a threat. It is defensively, however, where there are doubts. Pablo Zabaleta looks a yard off the pace at the highest level these days, and on the other side Aleks Kolarov can always be trusted to make a defensive error. Much rests upon the shoulders of John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi at the back, as well as Claudio Bravo, another player returning to the Nou Camp.