Barcelona @ home. Big game preview!!
City's manager Pep Guardiola has said quite a lot this week on the build up to the game against Barcelona. He was first asked how do you beat Barcelona? He acknowledged that City have had 4 sending offs against Barcelona in the last 5 games and therefore need to be disciplined. If City can do that tonight then we make have a contest tonight. If they lose their heads, Barcelona win. It is that simple. Pep also said that City need to play a near perfect game to get a result and I agree. If they can play the perfect game, they can win. Pep's final words were on who is fit and who is not. Vinnie is back and in contention, that's good for the defence, but Sagna and Zabaleta are out. Pep hinted that Maffeo or Fernando could start left back and also hinted to three at the back. City, on the back of the news, behind close doors, are working on something new and that was just yesterday and I expect they will be lightly training for a surprise again today and before the match. What that surprise is, is anyones guess. Who knows with Pep, that's his game... To be unpredictable.
Starting with Barcelona's team news, Alba got injured at the Nou Camp against City, Pique too and they both don't play. Mathieu, Vidal and Iniesta injured too. Good news for City. The bad news, City have Bravo suspended, so Caballero plays, Delph out injured and no experienced right back for tonight. Also Messi, Suarez and Neymar will be playing and they look short in defence. I expect that Fernando may play if Zaba can't play (he is set to miss the match but not concrete, maybe what City are working on behind closed doors??). Fernandinho could slip into RB, but I suspect Fernando will play, he worked well and played well against West Brom at the weekend at RB and switching into DM, it puts less pressure on Fernandinho too. If he is on form today (like so many times in the Champions League last season) then City have a fighting chance.
The game itself will be predictable. It sounds like Guardiola is expecting to have less possession again, so I expect City, with Caballero in net, to be more physical, aggressive and counter more. Gundogan is key to this game, if he can box to box and get back and defend when City lose the ball and get forward and set up and get himself some chances, the City stand a chance. Pep said Aguero plays if he can find a space in Midfield for him and I expect he will play, in a number 9. Barcelona will have chances, will score so City need to score too and more importantly, score first if they want to win the game. If City go behind first or at any time, they need to keep their head, play their game and stay in the match. They lost 4-0 because they did not do this at the Nou Camp. I suspect this will be a closer game but Barcelona to come out on top. 3-1 I'll go for with the game being close but Barcelona hitting hard at the end and making the result look better than it was. Suarez twice and a Messi penalty I'll go for.
For City, Pep said they dropped two points against Celtic, we need four wins to go through guaranteed so this is a must win to help towards qualification but I'd be more than happy to just not lose as it'd keep us in second with two to play. If we lose, we have a lot of work to do and must win both games after Barcelona to qualify in their hands. But it all depends on what happens in Germany tonight. I can't rule out Celtic getting a result but I expect no favours. If that is the case, if City lose tonight and lose their next match in Germany, they are out. That's how close the Champions league can be. I have faith in the team though, and Pep. We just need to apply pressure with goals and see teams off. If they can get ahead and put pressure on our opponents and not ourselves, all of a sudden quality will come into hand and City are plagued with quality so stand a much better chance of the other team making mistakes rather than ourselves. They have recently returned to winning ways, so they can have a little confidence and with a good result today, they can really kick on with the season. Here is hoping.
Lastly, team prediction (I'll get one right one day). -
Caballero, Fernando, Kompany, Otamendi, Kolorov, Fernandinho, Gundogan, Silva, Aguero, De Bruyne, Sterling.
