UEFA Champions League 2nd Leg Discussion : FC Barcelona vs Manchester City

Our forwards made a zero look like hero one of the worst EPL keeper saving shots after shots of Neymar messi and suarez giving english media to hype on something in tomorrows daily. we better talk how awful and predictable those shots were. we always hit him rather than him saving those.

nerman with no confidence these days... shooting straight to the keeper or passing it it away isntead of shooting

Bad finishing by our forwards.

What did you guys make of this call?



Did Pique clip him? The angle isn't very good but I thought it was a soft call.

No it seems like Aguero stepped on Pique foot, very little contact from either Pique and Masche whoever conceded that pen.

100% penalty. You can't stick your leg in like that and expect to get away with it.

Shitty game; City were afraid to do anything event full and we couldnt finish a sandwich. Some great passing from us though; and if anything I'm grateful it wasnt a crazy game with the Clasico this weekend

Also seeing Pep get excited when we scored was cute

Pep had to hide his smile/laughter lol

it felt a bit dirty watching pep get so excited..
it's like he and barca were married and divorced but now he's on a "business trip" and getting all excited with his past love all over again while his current love is chilling at home knitting or something.

someone make a sitcom of it.

Just because he left the club doesn't mean he's not a fan any more...

It's fine for a manager to celebrate like that when he is not employed but he now represents bayern.
doesn't look so well tbh i doubt the fans appreciate that.

ESPECIALLY with rumors (which i don't believe) surfacing about him returning back to the club, it just adds fuel to the fire.

Kind of makes it official imo.. he's indeed returning in summer

Mathieu is a rock in the back but his distribution is the worst.

alba has been crazy good this season and not many have mentioned that

pique's form continue which is great.

He just reacted to seeing a brilliant skill done by a former player don't see what the big idea is for all we know is Adidas, Bayern and Pep are trying to lure Messi to Munich

Watching Messi vs City in the first half reminded me a time I went to play 5 v 5 and there was a professional footballer in the opposition team. The guy would literally run through our whole team.
Despite the awful finishing I’m very happy with the way our forwards moved and let’s not forget that City were also lucky to have two shots stopping on the woodwork.
I’m sure that if Neymar netted the first one, he would score at least another. It’s all about the moral in attack.
By the way City was shit. Expect a much harder game in the weekend

it was a clear penalty and no doubt of it.....but the Argentine penalty takers

Donuts wrote:

alba has been crazy good this season and not many have mentioned that

You say that even though he got totally back doored by Milner in a 1 v 2 which probably should of been a goal?

I wont repeat what everyone already knows about this game, we already know that we wasted chances and Messi was quite great despite not scoring in either leg. We do know how he gets when he misses chances, so I hope that doesnt become something on Sunday.

Iker wont have a Joe Hart type game against us.

It was more awful finishing than it was brilliance from Joe Hart, it was made to look better than it actually was. Most of the saves I'd expect any decent keeper to make such was the abysmal nature of the finishing.

It happens again this weekend and you will lose.

Yea I agree on all points, I mentioned the same thing a few times earlier in the thread. I just don't see us being that awful finishing 2 games straight, but I do agree if it does happen we will get punished for it by Madrid.

Joe Hart made one impressive save, where he rushed out on Messi to stop him, but even that Messi took way too long and took 1 touch more than he needed.

All the other, exactly what Mole said...I expect a good goalie to make all those saves, they were right at him.. All he had to do was not be in the wrong starting position.

He had a good game, but I knew we (or the players actually) would gas about how well Hart did when the reality was our finishing was poor and we cant afford to do that again.

On Alba, I don’t think that anyone expects him to transform into a defensive rock or anything. Having said that we have to admit that he plays more than sufficiently well and definitely better than last season.
LE has somehow managed to bring the better sides of our defenders

We should have won by 6 or 7 goals and each of our forwards should have had a hattrick.
Messi was just unplayable again I thought last game against City was possibly his best ever CL performance but offensively atleast,this performance was even better.Toyed with City and at times it was cruel to watch.Two of the best performances in the CL that I have ever seen.
I thought everyone played well.Alves was outstanding and once more proved why we need to resign him.I liked the combination play between Messi,Rakitic and Alves.Rakitic would go over to the right wing to occupy the space Messi left and City couldnt deal with it all game.Kind of similar to how Di Maria would go over to the left wing from midfield to occupy the space CR left.
It is a good strategy but then our players have to be tuned in at all times while doing it.And it is extremely important that Iniesta slides over to the right a bit from left midfield and that we press relentlessly once we lose the ball.It will leave us a bit exposed if we lose the ball and dont win it back immediately. Busquets is slow and a quick counter could expose us if Iniesta is not there to provide backup.
Proper positioning and relentless pressing once we lose the ball is key to the strategy(this is all assuming that Messi wont track back if we lose the ball.If he does,then it is not much of an issue).
I really like Mathieu at CB.Unlike Masch and Bartra,he doesnt go looking for the ball unnecessarily and in positions where he has no business being.Wish he plays CB against Mehdrid.

Almost forgot to mention Silva.Thought he played brilliant once more.His movement is outstanding,almost Xavi like.He is always on the move,trying to find those little pockets of space to make himself available to a teammate to receive a pass.Would he consider a move here?

Which Silva?