Last night at the Etihad Stadium in the City of Manchester, Barca showed once again that when they lift their game there won't be much the opposition could do about; may be apart from just playing the part. Luis Enrique's boys went in to this match with a bit of self-doubt; or may be the self-doubt was in the mind of the fans. Either way one cannot deny that the defeat at the hands of Malaga at home would have definitely increased the pressure. So to come out and play such emphatically at the stadium of the defending English Premier League Champions was nothing short of magnificent. Two goals from Luis Saurez, someone who was criticized a bit for lack of goals considering the transfer amount; gave Barca a crucial 2-1 victory. The two away goal advantage will count big time as Manchester City need to win the return leg at the Camp Nou at least with a two goal advantage. But still they may fancy their chances and that would be something the Barca team could have done without. We gave them too many life line. After Outplaying them completely in first half, we somehow allowed them to return in to the game and that resulted in Manchester City's sole goal of the match and then that missed penalty from Messi. Had that gone in, Manchester City would be virtually out of the competition by now.
As I written in the preview, the game started the way we all anticipated - Barca totally dominating the process. May be the defeat at the hands of Malaga gave a false belief to Pellegrini that this team is vulnerable and also that 5-0 emphatic victory against Newcastle United. That is the only reason I could come up with City rolling out such an attacking eleven. Soon the truth dawned on them, the Malaga defeat was just an aberration and Barca is not Newcastle United. It is safe to say throughout the first half Manchester City only was present on the pitch because the game needs two teams. They were completely outplayed and out thought. Barca never went in top gear from the word go, but the momentum was slowly building up. In the 16th minute Saurez opened the scoring latched on to a ricochet (which incidently was from his shot) and slotted the ball past Hart before Kompany and Hart could even realize the situation. It was a true poacher's goal where he latched on to the opportunity which was presented. With a goal down every one expected City to open up, but they didn't heed the advice instead another little guy started emerging. Lionel Messi who has been maintaining a low key presence before th goal suddenly started to take control of the match. And it was no surprise that his spectatular run which opened up the City defense led to the second goal. Messi dribbled past three defenders before laying the ball to Alba whose cross in to the middle was intelligently directed to goal by Luis Saurez. The half ended with Alves hitting the cross bar. In between there was a couple of glorious chances which our boys duly wasted.
For some reason after the break we appeared a tad more relaxed and sloppy, a combination which was really dangerous. This allowed City to come back to to the game, Dzeko had a glorious opportunity but wasted his header. Barca's attempt to go forward all ended with players needlessly over playing or trying too fanciful stuff. Barca were made to pay for the lack of seriousness by Aguero in the 69th minute when he struck a glorious finish to bring City back into the game. The game was becoming more interesting but that ended too swiftly when in the 74th minute Clichy secured himself the second yellow card of the night for a needless foul on Alves. With ten players Manchester City needed a miracle and Pelligrini immediately strengthened his defense so that he could still keep the tie alive going into the second leg. Surprisingly evene after having a one man advantage Barca never tried to force the pace of the game and was more or less content with a 2-1 scoreline. This continued until Messi decided to up the tempo in the injury time. First he had a goal disallowed for offside - one of the tightest call one could see. And then in the last minute of injury time Messi completely bamboozled Zabaleta in the box drawing a foul and winning the penalty. But he could not increase Barca's advantage as Hart saved Messi's penalty and Messi headed the rebound wide with an open goal in front of him.
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