After a fairly fortuitous 2-0 win against a game Manchester City in the Champions League, it looks likely that Barcelona will get through to the quarter-finals at the expense of the moneyed English side. In recent years, Spanish clubs have had the upper hand over their English opponents, with Barca among those profiting the most.
In the past decade, the current champions have managed to overcome Manchester United in two finals, Arsenal twice in the knockout stages and, on the odd occasion, Chelsea. City could soon join that list, but against Premier League opposition, there have been a few slips, with both United and Chelsea, still in the competition, having taken the club’s scalp in recent times.
Banana skins
Assuming that their passage to the quarter finals is assured, Barca could face either Chelsea or United in the quarter-finals. Both clubs have relatively comfortable draws against Galatasaray and Olympiacos respectively, so another Catalan/English clash could be almost unavoidable. Even though United lost the first leg to Olympiacos, they are still favoured to win the tie over the two legs. Of the two, Jose Mourinho’s team look like the more difficult opponents despite their lack of firepower.
For now, the focus will be on whether Barca will be able to get over their surprise 3-1 defeat at the Anoeta against Real Sociedad in time for the return leg. Their record at home is almost perfect in European competition, so they should be able to see off City’s challenge, however formidable they may be when going forward.
Making history
Many English clubs will have had memorable games against opposition from Spain. The semi-final contested between Chelsea and Barca in the 2011-12 Champions League sticks out, as this was the match which helped the Blues on their way to the final and their first ever tournament win.
For City, or indeed any future opponents of Barca, Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid, they will have to defend for their lives while resorting to counter-attacking tactics. As Chelsea found out during that memorable night at the Camp Nou almost two years ago, it’s the best way to deal with teams possessing so much attacking talent.
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andym
Founder and chief editor of La Liga Blog, Andy fell in love with Spanish football after a university placement year in the Costa Del Sol. His favourite Tapas is Albondigas and on Saturday afternoons, Andy can regularly be found trying to emulate his hero Carles Puyol for his amateur football team.
Not too worried city can score 3 against anyone provided there smart ( not like Barca’s transfer dealings) surprisingly city played the first leg with a large amount of trepidation, stood off barca far to much & showed barca to much respect which was for me very annoying, milner could be a key player for city with his drive & match intelligence, Sergio is back so its all to play for, 3-1 to city doesn’t sound outrageous to me in all honesty provided they use the ball quickly with composure & play with drive, character & guts…. Who knows ??? I personally would like to keep alves large mouth stum.
We need 3 goals at least to go through even if barca score 1 which I think they will? With aguero back we can score 3 so this tie is far from over! Barca will play keep ball and won’t commit too much going forward so sitting back playing on the counter wont win us the game but we will need to through the game am sure? Am hoping a 1-3 City go through on away goals!
Rather than worry about Man Utd and Chelsea Barcelona would do well to concentrate on the second leg. Unless they are at their best Man City are very capable of causing an upset. Their squad is getting fit again and may cause a surprise.