Next: Barcelona (Home) - Champions League

[AG7]

No point in starting a new 'Next' thread, so renaming the 'Buildup' thread that we already have:

UEFA Champions Legaue
Round of 16

Manchester City v Barcelona
City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester

Tuesday 18 February 2014
Kickoff: 1945 GMT

Referee: Jonas Eriksson (Sweden)
Assistant 1: Mathias Klasenius (Sweden)
Assistant 2: Daniel Wärnmark (Sweden)
Additional Assistant 1: Stefan Johannesson (Sweden)
Additional Assistant 2: Markus Strömbergsson (Sweden)
Fourth Official: Daniel Gustavsson (Sweden)
UEFA Referee Observer: Hugh Dallas (Scotland)
UEFA Delegate: Henk Kesler (Netherland)

TV Coverage in UK: ITV HD ( Sky 178 ) and ITV ( Sky 103 )
Coverage starts at 1930 GMT

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Starting XI Prediction:

Hart
Zaba - Komps - Demi - Kolarov
Yaya - Garcia
Nasri - Jovetic - Silva
Negredo

Bench Prediction:

Panti, Richards, Lescott, Clichy, Ferdy, Aguero, Dzeko

Score Prediction:

Manchester City 3 - 2 Barcelona

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Here's the preview from UEFA's Champions League website:

Latin links spice up City-Barcelona showdown
Manchester City FC's Spanish connections mean there are unlikely to be too many surprises for FC Barcelona in the first leg of their much-anticipated round of 16 contest.

Manchester City FC and FC Barcelona's UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg will be their first competitive encounter, but there are unlikely to be too many surprises for either side given the hosts' Spanish connections.

• City's squad features four Spaniards – Javi García, Jesús Navas, Álvaro Negredo and David Silva – along with four more players also signed from Spain's top flight including Yaya Touré, who joined from Barcelona in 2010. Additionally they have in Manuel Pellegrini a coach well acquainted with the Spanish game, and in director of football Txiki Begiristain a man who knows Barcelona better than most.

• Pellegrini's City reached this stage by finishing second in Group A where they took 15 points – two more than Gerardo Martino's Barcelona managed in winning Group H.

Previous Meetings

• The clubs have met six times in friendly matches:
1952 Barcelona 5-1 Manchester City
1957 Barcelona 3-2 Manchester City
1974 Barcelona 3-2 Manchester City
1986 Barcelona 1-1 Manchester City (3-4 penalties, played in Huelva)
2003 Manchester City 2-1 Barcelona
2009 Barcelona 0-1 Manchester City

• Barcelona visited City on 10 August 2003 for their inaugural match in a stadium built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Nicolas Anelka and Trevor Sinclair scored either side of Javier Saviola's goal for Barcelona, who included Carles Puyol and Xavi Hernández in their starting XI with Andrés Iniesta a second-half substitute.

• City won 1-0 at Barcelona in a pre-season friendly in August 2009, Martin Petrov the scorer. Touré was playing for Barcelona while Pablo Zabaleta is City's only survivor.

• The lineups were:

Barcelona: Pinto, Montoya (Alves 46), Puyol (Bartra 30), Fontas (Piqué 65), Maxwell, Sergio, Y Touré (Jonathan 46), Gudjohnsen (Keita 46), Jeffren (Gai 54), Bojan (Ibrahimović 46), Pedro (Messi 46).
Manchester City: Given, Onuoha, Dunne, K Touré (Ben Haim 46), Zabaleta (Garrido 65), Weiss, Wright-Phillips (Tripper 81), Ireland, Barry (Etuhu 69), Petrov, Tévez (Bellamy 65).

Match Background

• City are in the last 16 for the first time but Pellegrini has guided Villarreal (2006, 2009) and Málaga CF (2012) into the quarter-finals.

• Four-time European champions Barcelona are seeking a seventh successive quarter-final appearance. In last season's round of 16 against AC Milan they lost the first leg 2-0 in Italy but bounced back with a 4-0 triumph at the Camp Nou.

• City lost 3-1 at home to Josep Guardiola's FC Bayern München on matchday two, their only defeat in their last 23 European fixtures in Manchester. They won their two other Group D home fixtures handsomely, putting a combined nine goals past PFC CSKA Moskva and FC Viktoria Plzeň.

• Barcelona won 1-0 at Celtic FC on their first away trip in this season's competition but lost 2-1 at AFC Ajax on their most recent and have posted just one victory in their last six European away games, losing three.

• City's home record against Spanish clubs is W2 D2 L0. Sergio Agüero's penalty earned a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid CF in last term's group stage and the Argentinian scored an added-time winner in a 2-1 success against Villarreal CF in the 2011/12 group stage.

• Barcelona have not won in five away fixtures in England, most recently going down 1-0 at Chelsea FC in the 2011/12 semi-finals. Their last away victory over a Premier League side came at this stage in 2006/07 when they beat Liverpool FC 1-0 yet still suffered defeat on away goals. Víctor Valdés, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta and Lionel Messi all played at Anfield.

• Barcelona's overall record away to English opposition is W6 D8 L14. This does not include their 3-1 triumph over Manchester United FC at Wembley Stadium in the 2011 UEFA Champions League final.

• The Blaugrana have never won in Manchester where four visits to Old Trafford have brought them two draws and two defeats – most recently a 1-0 semi-final loss to United in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League. Touré was in the Barcelona team that day and again when they beat United in the 2009 final in Rome.

Team Ties

• During nine seasons in Spain, Pellegrini coached Villarreal, Real Madrid and Málaga but enjoyed only four victories against Barcelona during that time, most recently a 2-1 success for Villarreal at the Camp Nou in March 2008. He lost both of his Liga encounters with Barcelona as Madrid coach in 2009/10, 1-0 away and 2-0 at home. The Chilean's overall record against Barcelona is P22 W4 D4 L14.

• City's director of football, Begiristain, filled the same role at Barcelona between 2003 and 2010. He was a member of the Blaugrana's 1992 European Cup-winning squad and also helped the club win four Liga titles, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Super Cup during seven years as a Barcelona player.

• During three seasons with Barcelona between 2007 and 2010, Touré made 74 Liga appearances and scored four goals, helping the Blaugrana to two league titles and the 2009 UEFA Champions League crown.

• Pablo Zabaleta spent three years at Barcelona's city rivals RCD Espanyol between 2005 and 2008. He appeared in four Liga derbies against Barcelona, drawing two and losing two.

• Agüero hit five goals in ten Liga outings against Barcelona for Club Atlético de Madrid between 2006 and 2011. His first home match against Barcelona with Atlético ended in a 6-0 defeat in May 2007.

• Gaël Clichy was an unused substitute in the Arsenal side beaten 2-1 by Barcelona in the 2006 UEFA Champions League final. Clichy and Samir Nasri played alongside Cesc Fàbregas and Alex Song in the Arsenal teams beaten by Barcelona in the 2009/10 quarter-finals and 2010/11 round of 16.

• Gerard Piqué spent four years in Manchester as a United player from 2004-08, making 23 appearances but never facing City.

• At Arsenal, Fàbregas won nine and lost just two of 13 meetings with City. His last visit was for a 3-0 away win in October 2010 in which Song scored.

• Navas played alongside Daniel Alves and Adriano in the Sevilla FC team that beat Barcelona 3-0 in the 2006 UEFA Super Cup.


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OLD THREAD POST:

Right, too fucking far away to start the official Next and MatchDay threads ... so here instead is a build-up thread. Let's dump everything relating to the big one in one place in here ...

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Let's start by a great poster someone did on Twitter ...

CityvBarca.jpg

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And then there is this news doing rounds today ...

Messi hopes to be at best for Man City

Lionel Messi is confident he will be fully fit and back to his top form by the time Barcelona meet Manchester City in the Champions League.

The four-time World Player of the Year has recently returned after spending eight weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.

Messi has appeared twice as a substitute, scoring a brace in Barcelona’s 4-0 Copa del Rey win over Getafe and then featuring in the second half of the Liga stalemate against Atletico Madrid.

But the 26-year-old Argentine, who is Barcelona’s all-time record scorer with 329 goals, believes he will be in peak condition by the time the Spanish champions visit the Etihad Stadium on Feb. 18 for the first leg of their last-16 tie.

Messi is quoted by The Sun as saying: “I’ve not yet played a full game. Surely with the rhythm of more games I play and as time goes by I will be at my 100 percent in a few weeks and certainly expect to be at my best when we face City.

“Barcelona is always aspiring to win the biggest titles as it is such a big club and has to fight for every trophy.”

City are hopeful that midfielder Samir Nasri will be fit again in time for the second leg at the Camp Nou on Mar. 12.

The France international suffered a knee injury in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Newcastle.

And manager Manuel Pellegrini said: “We hope he can come back as soon as possible but I think less than six or seven weeks will be difficult.”

[Nigels Tackle]

'kin hell
bet you've already sent your xmas list to santa haven't you?

[Sister of fu]

This is the game we have all been waiting a lifetime for. I can not wait. I hope its as good as it promises to be. Should be a very special night.

[mr_nool]

I think I'm gonna break my no-drinking-during-weekdays-policy for this one.

[Sideshow Bob]

martino has them defending FAR better than they were last season. will be very difficult. just hoping we don't see any howlers from joe or vinny or whomever.

[Ted Hughes]

This is the game we have all been waiting a lifetime for. I can not wait. I hope its as good as it promises to be. Should be a very special night.

I remember that friendly game when Ronaldinho played & just daydreaming about the slightest possibility of ever playing them for real.

Here we are doing exactly that with a City side which imo, if you put Messi in it, would dick them 5-0.

[DoomMerchant]

I think I'm gonna break my no-drinking-during-weekdays-policy for this one.

wtf kind of "policy" is that?

Drinking when it's required is just sort of standard fare. Everyone needs some nights off, and i rarely have more than 1 on a weekday at home, and *always* go 48 hours between a drink if i've gotten truly shitfaced, but a "No Drinking on School Nights" policy?

Loosen yr fucking grip. Some of my best times in life have happened on a Tues or Wed.

cheers

[Sister of fu]

This is the game we have all been waiting a lifetime for. I can not wait. I hope its as good as it promises to be. Should be a very special night.

I remember that friendly game when Ronaldinho played & just daydreaming about the slightest possibility of ever playing them for real.

Here we are doing exactly that with a City side which imo, if you put Messi in it, would dick them 5-0.

I think Messi is the missing bit of the jigsaw that would see us be the very best in the world. Saying that who does he replace?? :-)

[Chinners]

I think I'm gonna break my no-drinking-during-weekdays-policy for this one.

There are 7 weak days you know ....

[Ted Hughes]

This is the game we have all been waiting a lifetime for. I can not wait. I hope its as good as it promises to be. Should be a very special night.

I remember that friendly game when Ronaldinho played & just daydreaming about the slightest possibility of ever playing them for real.

Here we are doing exactly that with a City side which imo, if you put Messi in it, would dick them 5-0.

I think Messi is the missing bit of the jigsaw that would see us be the very best in the world. Saying that who does he replace?? :-)

Garcia.

[mr_nool]

I think I'm gonna break my no-drinking-during-weekdays-policy for this one.

wtf kind of "policy" is that?

Drinking when it's required is just sort of standard fare. Everyone needs some nights off, and i rarely have more than 1 on a weekday at home, and *always* go 48 hours between a drink if i've gotten truly shitfaced, but a "No Drinking on School Nights" policy?

Loosen yr fucking grip. Some of my best times in life have happened on a Tues or Wed.

cheers

I do drink at "school nights" every now and then. If I go out to a restaurant, if I meet up with a friend for a few pints in a pub, in the hotel bar at a business trip. I just don't want to do it too often, so my general rule of thumb is to stay away from alcohol from Sunday/Monday to Friday. It does wonders for the waistline as well ...

[Chinners]

This is the game we have all been waiting a lifetime for. I can not wait. I hope its as good as it promises to be. Should be a very special night.

I remember that friendly game when Ronaldinho played & just daydreaming about the slightest possibility of ever playing them for real.

Here we are doing exactly that with a City side which imo, if you put Messi in it, would dick them 5-0.

I think Messi is the missing bit of the jigsaw that would see us be the very best in the world. Saying that who does he replace?? :-)

Garcia.

<Splutter> ... thanks Ted, I now have coffee all over my screen!

[Twobob]

Got 0-0 written all over it

[zabbadabbado]

Just bought my ticket for this game today £50.00,cant wait(level 1 Colin Bell behind the dug outs).

Even going to buy a "half and half scalf" and a match program.Did this against Bayern Munich,even kept the white piece of plastic from the visual experience,These games are a once in a life time experience,you dream about this as a kid.

[Twobob]

Just bought my ticket for this game today £50.00,cant wait(level 1 Colin Bell behind the dug outs). Even going to buy a "half and half scalf" and a match program.Did this against Bayern Munich,even kept the white piece of plastic from the visual experience,These games are a once in a life time experience,you dream about this as a kid.

You will be a half and half scarf wanker, you do understand that? One notch down from a full-kit wanker ;-)

[Slim]

Just bought my ticket for this game today £50.00,cant wait(level 1 Colin Bell behind the dug outs). Even going to buy a "half and half scalf" and a match program.Did this against Bayern Munich,even kept the white piece of plastic from the visual experience,These games are a once in a life time experience,you dream about this as a kid.

You will be a half and half scarf wanker, you do understand that? One notch down from a full-kit wanker ;-)

I have a half and half scarf for our first game in the Champions League, it was a momentous occasion and worth remembering.

[Twobob]

I have a half and half scarf for our first game in the Champions League, it was a momentous occasion and worth remembering.

Wanker


;-)

[Pretty Boy Lee]

I have a half and half scarf for our first game in the Champions League, it was a momentous occasion and worth remembering.

I've got one from with bayern Munich as I had intended on buying them all before I realised we'd be there every season.

[Slim]

I have a half and half scarf for our first game in the Champions League, it was a momentous occasion and worth remembering.

I've got one from with bayern Munich as I had intended on buying them all before I realised we'd be there every season.

Bayern is one worth having.

I think they are great for us to commemorate the games as we can't hold on to old ticket stubs.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

Bayern is one worth having. I think they are great for us to commemorate the games as we can't hold on to old ticket stubs.

My thoughts too.