Manchester City travelled to Barcelona to face the Catalans for the 5th time in under 3 years in the Champions League group stage match. With Barca hosting the game in front of a rocking Nou Camp, City were up against it from the very beginning.
The game ended with a 4-0 thrashing of City, a stark reminder to Guardiola’s side that they are far from being counted as one of Europe’s best club sides. Messi bagged a hat-trick, while Neymar treated the capacity crowd in attendance to a wonderful goal in the closing stages of the game.
The result leaves City in second place on their group table, 5 points behind leaders Barcelona, who maintain a perfect record in the Champions League this season.
Here are 5 talking points from the game
#1 The absence of Aguero
The Argentine, who has been Manchester City’s talisman for a long time and already has 8 goals this season (including 3 in 2 previous group stage games), was conspicuous by his absence from the starting lineup.
City were unable to channel the ball through the middle efficiently in the first half. de Bruyne, playing as the furthest central player, was repeatedly found making unsuitable runs, while David Silva was unable to link up with him owing to the numerical superiority that Barca’s midfielders created in their own half.
Aguero did come on late in the game, but the game had gone away from the team and City were also playing with 10 men after Bravo’s sending off
#2 Both teams’ willingness to play out from the back
Barcelona have, for a while now, been expert proponents of playing the ball from the back and press the opposition’s defence. Thus, Guardiola would’ve been expected to adopt a more cautious approach in order to nullify this advantage.
However, the Manchester City manager opted to trust the technical prowess of his defenders and instructed them to play their way out of trouble. City’s defence, as well as Bravo in goal, were able to quite comfortably play short passes between themselves, creating openings to take the ball into the attacking half.
Barca, also played their way out the back, which City were unable to contain with their rather languid pressing approach.
#3 Bravo’s foolhardiness
The Chilean goalkeeper has been under scrutiny ever since his much-vaunted move to Manchester City, having failed his very first baptism of fire against Manchester United. Since then, he has looked to have composed himself a bit and had played himself into a run of good form.
In another moment of madness, quite similar to the Ibrahimovic goal in the Manchester derby, Bravo earned himself a thoroughly damning red card. Having come off the line to clear a Barca punt forward, Bravo played a loose ball straight into Suarez’s path. Suarez proceeded to attempt a chip over Bravo, which the goalkeeper got his hands to – except that he was outside his penalty area in doing so.
After being reduced to 10 men, City’s ability to commit numbers forward was significantly hampered, and Barcelona proceeded to close out the match in full control.
#4 Barcelona’s control over the proceedings
Barring the opening exchanges, Barcelona’s superiority in all positions around the pitch was on full display.
Rakitic, Iniesta and Busquets ran the game for them, while Messi’s tendency to drop deep and create plays often gave them a man advantage in central midfield and allowed them to find holes in the City backline with their dribbles and fast passing changes.
After the red card early in the second half, City were unable to press the ball over Barca’s backline with any intensity, allowing the game to meander into a training ground exercise for the home team. Even Mathieu’s sending-off in the 75th minute did not put them off tempo, as they finished strongly.
#5 Lionel Messi making the difference for Barca
The 5-time Ballon D’Or winner was at his efficient best on the night. He had all of two clear-cut opportunities in the first 60 minutes, and he succeeded in converting both of them.
The maestro picked up 2 of his 3 goals with well-timed runs. The first came courtesy a slip by City’s Fernandinho, which gave Messi all the time in the world to guide a finish past the despairing Bravo, who hemmed and hawed and could do nothing as Messi slotted the ball into the near post.
He was also at hand to finish off a move generated by the hard work of Suarez for his hat-trick goal. His best one was the second, in which he directed a shot from outside the box past a helpless Willy Caballero in goal.
All-in-all, Messi was the best player on the pitch last night, and as is usually the case for Barca, made the crucial difference on the scoreline.
