Barca should hold no fears for City

Carles Puyol's decision to call time on his time in Catalonia underlines the feeling that this is a side in decline.

Lost in the fog of pre-World Cup hype was the news that an all-time great has finished playing at the highest level.
After 15 seasons, 36 serious injuries, six La Liga titles, three times Champions Leagues, two FIFA Club World Cups and 593 appearances for Barcelona, Carles Puyol announced he’s terminating his contract in May , much to the shock of a saddened Catalonia. For a decade [url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/carles puyol]their warrior captain[/url] has been the heart and soul.
But having watched his 593rd appearance at the Nou Camp on Sunday I wasn’t surprised with his decision. Puyol’s legs are about to go and he knows it.
He scored the third goal that eventually put a jittery game to bed against relegation-threatened Almeria, but he was at fault for the visitors’ strike that started those jitters.
The truth is Puyol, who has hardly played this season due to injury, should have been replaced by a world-class defender last summer. But the vacuum created by another change in manager, and Barcelona’s desire to go down the Galactico route, putting all their faith and money in Brazil’s shirt-selling, pin-up boy Neymar, has left them a weakened force.
Indeed Puyol’s situation is symbolic of this great side’s gradual decline. This is a team in need of re-building. Victor Valdes is leaving, Xavi is now 34, in a few months Andres Iniesta and Javier Mascherano turn 30 and Dani Alves will be 31.

The question for Barcelona is how do you do it when standards and expectations are so high?
The questions for Manchester City is this: are you aware that Barca are there for the taking in the Champions League this season? And can you do next week what you should have done at the Etihad, and be the team who takes them ?
Because looking at Sunday’s lacklustre performance, which came on the heels of a 3-1 loss to Real Soceidad, City may be catching them at just the right time.
Although they eventually won 4-1 against a poor Almeria side, they didn’t seal victory until seven minutes from the end. They lacked spark, the passing was sloppy, the defence looked vulnerable and when Almeria dropped their crippling inferiority complex, and went on the attack, they could twice have equalised.
Barcelona conceded once again from a poorly defended corner. The eighth time they have done so in La Liga this season.
Even the fans seemed to be going through the motions. There were 41,000 empty seats. It was [url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/fc barcelona]a quiet, nervous, highly-critical Nou Camp crowd[/url] who feared a repeat of Valencia’s 3-2 victory there last month.

In fairness to Barca, Iniesta was rested, Messi looks to be heading back to his best, scoring a sublime free-kick , and Xavi was everywhere. But Neymar struggled to produce anything like an end product, missed a woeful sitter and was subbed.
City should harbour no fears going to the Nou Camp because they have nothing to lose, and if they put the right team out on the right frame of mind then this tie is far from over.
They just need to believe they’re not out of it, use their attacking talent and go for the jugular, confident that they can score twice. Just as Liverpool and Chelsea have done there with lesser strikers and against better defences, in recent years.
The Nou Camp is nervous these days and Puyol’s retirement is a timely reminder of the uncertainty that permeates the place. The question is does Manuel Pellegrini have the bottle this time to exploit it?

But we need to score three to progress!

They conceded 3 last week....it'll all depends on how Pellegrini plays it....go for it, or sit back and try and get an early goal...then see what happens.

I think if we sit back...it'll be a similar result to the first leg.

My only concern is that with Aguero back and the chances we missed at home...he'll probably go for the second option.

And that would be against his attacking philosophy, surely? Go for the jugular, get three goals and then get another one.

Or get stage fright...

leopold wrote:And that would be against his attacking philosophy, surely?  Go for the jugular, get three goals and then get another one.

Or get stage fright...

Yeah it would Leo, but what I'm trying to say is that in the first leg, we had quite a few chances but didn't take them, even though we hardly had the ball. With Aguero back, he may just hope that if we are tight at the back this time around and don't give away stupid penalties and get a player sent off, we could nick 2 goals at least.....and maybe a winner.

I'm not so sure we can go through the game without them scoring, so I'd hate to be 1-0 with 20 mins to go, only for them to score. I'd much rather we go for it, if we concede, then go for it harder. At least if we were to score 2 and they did score, momentum may suggest we can score again.

Let's hope Sergio gets another 45 mins on Sunday so he's nearer 100% for Barca.

I think we will go for it with the really high press. Lets face it we are out, it will take a miracle, but go down fighting is my motto   

I reckon we go all out for that early goal and hope we don't concede in the process.....that will put Barca on the defensive for the rest of the game.
That, imo, is the only way we have of beating them.

If we sit back and try and play on the break, we'll concede that 1st goal and ultimately lose.

I agree. Sit back and let them control the game is gonna cause us problems. We have to hope we are clinical on the break if we play that way.

I'd much rather go at them an create half a dozen decent chances and score 2 or 3 from them. Hopefully 3 or 4!

Really, we've nothing to lose here.  We're already as good as out of it, so we should just go for it.

We're already on the back foot as Barca have the twin advantages of being at home and having 2 away goals in the bank.  We need to hit them hard and fast, catch them for a goal before they've even woken up properly.  If we do that and keep up the momentum, we might even squeeze past them.

If it doesn't work and we go out anyway, at least we've shown a fighting spirit, which would make other teams worry a bit more.

If we score first who knows
Unlikely but so long as we go at them and give ourselves a chance,not impossible

Anyone else going?