Barca

I think City will go through. I write for a Spanish football website (I won't mention it her, don't want to look like I'm spamming), and Tata Martino's team have hit big problems.
They are still great in attack, but defensively they are woeful. Valencia looked like they would score every time they went forward.
We all know how good City are up front, so I don't think Barca will have any answer to it.

Messi doesn't looks the same player and i really think there time at the top is ending.

They are still a top team and will continue to be.

But they aren't what they were.

That's what you get for buying countless attackers and midfielders and not sorting out the defence.

Think it will be a tight game...Messi has another 2 weeks to get up to speed after his long lay off.

I would be more confident if we had Aguero's movement against their defence...

This is the CL.....Barca will no doubt be up for the first leg....I'd be happy with we can keep them from scoring and get a 2 goal lead...as I do think we will score at the Nou Camp......

But easy for City? No way will it be easy.

Yea Stretty still a good team but now they are very much beatable. Used to be that teams would never get the ball from them but these days its like a 60-40 split. Still good but not the 80-20 we used to se e under pep.

Messi missed a bit of a sitter by his standards to make it 3-3.....

City to win this tie.....and as above.....possibly comfortably.

Called City to win a long time ago. All the Messi bum bashers said he would slaughter City but he has been poor since returning, wrote an article last night about it and it was pulled for god knows what reason. Messi fangirls are rather sensitive.

Up till last month I would've backed Barca, but recently they have looked pretty average by their own standards. Even the cup victories against Levante wasn't fully convincing, since Levante pretty much gave them the victory in both legs.

I think City can do what Bayern did last season and completely batter them. They have had several chances to buy defenders, but their pride and ego insisted on getting in more attackers.

Xavi isn't what he was so if he's marked out, City with their pace can hit them hard. But if Messi and Neymar are fully fit in two weeks time, then it maybe a different story.

comment by TortoiseFC (U17389)
posted 1 hour, 44 minutes ago
I think City will go through. I write for a Spanish football website (I won't mention it her, don't want to look like I'm spamming)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Please do share. I'm up for any interesting writing on La Liga.

Interesting that since Messi's return Barça have dropped 7 points in 4 games while they only dropped 3 in 5 while he was out. He hasn't scored from open play in La Liga since September either.

However, "another" defeat makes it sound like they've been losing games on a regular basis. It was only their 2nd league defeat of the season (plus one in the CL). The first was unexpected too, but not a total shock. Athletic Bilbao (who, incidentally, are who Madrid play away today) have been pretty solid at home. Their only defeat at their new ground came midweek vs Atleti in the cup, and that was arguably because they were chasing two goals against the clock to win the tie. They're still unbeaten at San Mamés in the league.

Last night however was a huge shock. Barça could've settled the game in the first half hour, but after Valencia scored they were completely out of sorts. All of Valencia's goals came from Barça's lack of commitment going into challenges. They were late to most of the split balls too, which explains the 18-7 foul count when it normally reads something like that but in Barça's favour.

I'm not sure too much can be read into this just yet though. Concentration and determination will surely be higher vs City.

Xavi's game has picked up, Iniesta has a few games to get fit and it would seem reasonable to expect Messi to find his scoring boots sooner or later. On the downside, Busquets is in poor form and the central defence needs sorting. Imagine Martino might give Bartra or Puyol a try out in the coming games, but even if he sticks with his current back four, I'd expect them to be more up for it vs City. They will however be in huge trouble from set pieces. Before last night, they'd conceded almost half of their goals in La Liga from corners, and that's not something that's likely to improve any time soon. They defended them was against Atleti, that much is true, but it was more of a surprise and an exception than a rule or trend.

Barca's defence is always better than people give it credit, sure they make some real stinking errors against diddy teams and every now and then it costs them points but they have been rock solid against Athletico and Real this season.

With Aguero out Barca can afford to play Puyol, as neither Dzeko or Negredo are going to be a big threat in behind. And Puyol has always managed to drag performances out of Pique.

I see Barca going through as City are not going to sit and counter for two games, they are going to play. They will give Xavi, Iniesta and Messi time on the ball in space and Barca will kill them for it.