Luis Suarez hits brace as Barcelona snag win away at Manchester City
MANCHESTER, England --
The worst thing for Manchester City is how often we've seen this before. A billion pounds spent on players since Sheikh Mansour bought the club in 2008 and still it collapses as soon as it meets a team of any quality in the UEFA Champions League. After all the talk that a corner had been turned with the wins over Bayern Munich and Roma in the group stage, this was a sobering reality check. The scoreline may have had a goal in it for City, but the gulf between the sides was vast after Barcelona defeat the defending Barclays Premeir League champions 2-1 on Tuesday night.
City was bereft in midfield and shambolic at the back. Vincent Kompany had another night to forget, but he was given little protection by Fernando and James Milner. Barcelona, tentative at first, soon found it was pushing at an open door, and once it settled into the familiar rhythm, it was unshakeable. Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Malaga, after six consecutive league wins, looks an aberration.
"I try every game for the team and I think today with (scoring) both goals I am so happy," Luis Suarez said after Barcelona's victory. "If they lose the game 3-1 it's really difficult for them in the other game, but I think at 2-1 it's a good result."
Last season, when the teams met at this stage, Manuel Pellegrini was accused of having been too defensive, setting up with Aleksandar Kolarov in front of Gael Clichy on the left, the use of two full-backs apparently designed to try to counter the attacking threat of Dani Alves from right-back. The approach this season could hardly have been more different, as Pellegrini deployed a narrow 4-4-2, with Edin Dzeko joining Sergio Aguero up front and David Silva and Samir Nasri in the wide roles.
The tone may have been different, but the outcome was much the same. City was never as bad last season as many subsequently made out, in the end undone by a ricochet after Jesus Navas had been dispossessed that led to Martin Demichelis making a panicky tackle, fouling Messi and being sent off in conceding a penalty. As then, City seemed to be having slightly the better of the midfield exchanges only to be undermined by individual mistakes.
There’d been a warning as a dreadful backpass from Fernando left Luis Suarez clean through. That opportunity was squandered, but after 16 minutes a right-wing cross from Messi bounced off Vincent Kompany and the Suarez finished instinctively. Whatever issues he has had settling in Spain, the former Liverpool forward still knows where English nets are. The goal also raised further question marks about Kompany, who has become increasingly error-prone this season. Having been one of the calmest, most imposing central defenders in the world two seasons ago, his decline has been precipitous.
If the first goal was down to an individual error, the second, after 30 minutes, was the result of Barcelona’s excellence. The build-up was neat, precise and purposeful. After a lengthy spell of possession, Messi spread the ball to Jordi Alba, who, like Dani Alves on the other side, was encouraged to get forward by the narrowness of City’s system. He crossed low, and Suarez diverted the ball in via a post. In half an hour, the Uruguayan had scored more goals against City than he’d managed in six games for Liverpool.
Suddenly, it was like City against Bayern Munich at home last season, or Manchester United against Barcelona in the finals of 2009 and 2011: the English team huffing and puffing, pursuing a ball that seemed always one step ahead of them. The narrative of the past five years, it increasingly feels, is that of the '90s: Premier League clubs unable to keep up with the best the continent has to offer, battling gamely but ultimately never quite having enough quality.
Back then, the assumption was that the deficiency was the result of English football development; given City had only one English outfield player in its starting line-up, the argument perhaps needs a little nuance. Perhaps there is something in the English game that means when its representatives fail, this is the manner in which they do so, chasing witlessly as superior, smarter opponents meet effort with patient rapier thrusts.
Messi, starting wide on the right but ghosting infield, was supreme, prompting and probing, pulling strings all over the pitch. Two minutes after the second goal, it was his clever diagonal dink that laid in Neymar. He lobbed Joe Hart but the bounce of the ball made it impossible for him to get sufficient purchase on his shot and it was hacked clear.
What City does have is a basic doggedness and Sergio Aguero. Just as he saved the day against Bayern in November, so he breathed life into the game after 69 minutes. Three minutes earlier, it had taken a fine challenge from Gerard Pique to deny Dzeko, but still there had been little thought of a City comeback when Fernandinho, on as a second-half substitute for the ineffective Nasri, hit a quick forward pass to David Silva. He played a backheel lay-off into the path of Aguero, who finished with characteristic ruthlessness.
Five minutes after it had begun, though, the implausible fightback was ended as Gael Clichy, already booked for a late tackle on Ivan Rakitic, collected a second caution for a clumsy challenge on Dani Alves. Only a Joe Hart save from a Messi penalty -- and the Argentinian’s header wide as the ball came back to him -- prevented Barca killing the tie completely. It was, anyway, a minor miracle that City got into a position in which a comeback was even possible; for half the game it was outclassed, and a fighting spirit and a great finisher cannot disguise that.
"I hope our second-half efforts are worth something," Hart told ITV. "We'll go there with a great group of fans, belief and a we'll have a right go. We regrouped second half, put (Barcelona) under a lot of pressure, and we were good for a goal and maybe good for a result tonight."
