Champions League Round of 16: Week Two Preview

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Jul 30, 2014; Bronx, NY, USA; Manchester City FC manager Manuel Pellegrini coaches during the second half of a game against Liverpool FC at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Manchester City (EPL) v. Barcelona (La Liga)

Where: Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England

When: Tuesday, February 24 2:45pm Eastern, Fox Sports 1

Overview: These two sides met last season at this exact stage of Champions League; an aggregate score of 4-1 in favor of the Catalan side saw them advance to the Champions League quarterfinals. The first leg also took place in the Etihad with Barcelona shutting out the home side 2-0. Interestingly, both teams are second in their respective leagues with Manchester City 5 points off Chelsea’s pace and Barcelona 4 points behind Real Madrid.

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Manchester City are not short on confidence heading into this showdown with the Spanish giants. The Citizens disposed of Newcastle 5-0 at the Etihad on Saturday and look to carry that same form into their Champions League match 3 days later. City, a team that has faced a plethora of injuries and absences all season, have their prime players healthy for this match. Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero, and Vincent Kompany will all be ready for this tilt. Importantly, David Silva could cause a world of pain upon Barcelona if he repeats Saturday’s spectacular performance against the Toon. The enigmatic midfielder could cause headaches if Barcelona place too much attention on Sergio Aguero.

Contrarily to Manchester City, Barcelona suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Málaga on Saturday at the Camp Nou. There is no need to fret though as Barca had won their previous 11 matches and have displayed great form in the past month. The Manchester City back line will have their hands full with the South American trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez. This trio has scored 68 of Barcelona’s 110 overall goals on the campaign (good for 62% of Barca’s goals). Additionally, Barcelona are looking to set the record for most consecutive seasons reaching the quarterfinal round. They tied Manchester United and Real Madrid’s record of 7 last season when disposing of this City side.

Players to Watch: Surprisingly for Manchester City, the man to watch is David Silva. The game plan for Barcelona, as it is with most teams visiting the Etihad, will be to eliminate Sergio Aguero. As mentioned above, this should open up some space for the midfield maestro to work his magic again. Silva is absolutely unstoppable when in form as he has the potential to pick out runs with pinpoint accuracy or drive to the net himself and finish.

The obvious choice for Barcelona is Lionel Messi. Arguably the world’s best footballer, Messi seems to score at will as evidenced by his 37 goals across all competitions. After enduring a stretch in the season where it seemed like the Argentine was focusing more on setting up goals in showing his unselfish nature, someone told him that he was put on this Earth to score goals. The superstar already has two hat tricks and a brace in 2015.

Prediction: Manchester City 1, Barcelona 2. There is simply too much firepower for Barcelona to go two games without scoring. They should fluster a City side who are not as good at the Etihad as they were last season.

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