Twelve months later, the City manager’s team selection was fairly adventurous, sticking with Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero in a 4-4-2, following the club’s emphatic victory over Newcastle United, Saturday afternoon. However, the attack-minded XI didn’t improve City’s overall performance, as within the opening minute captain, Vincent Kompany, was clearing a delicate Lionel Messi pass for a corner, further foreshadowing the issues they would encounter.
Similar to previous Champions League defeats at the Etihad, City was played off the park, whilst lacking a clear plan out of possession. Where the Catalan club pressed City from the front, and quickly dropped into a 4-5-1 to clog space in midfield, Pellegrini’s side passively allowed Barca to dictate the tempo of the match.
The issue City encounter playing two strikers in Europe is that either Aguero or Dzeko are required to complete defensive duties – and here, they didn’t. Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano freely stormed into City’s half to play forward passes, whereas Sergio Busquets received ample time in deep areas to ensure Barca retained possession. It appeared that Pellegrini only had a plan to negate Lionel Messi’s threat from the right, as Gael Clichy — who was eventually sent off for two bookings — followed the Argentine throughout the pitch.
Nevertheless, Suarez reminded the world, and those in England, of the talent that departed Anfield, but also the ruthlessness Barca possess in the final third. Likewise, Messi comfortably ran the game by easily evading Clichy and dropping into deeper areas where pressure wasn’t applied. While the contrasting buildup to Suarez’s goal was evident, the Argentine’s contribution vividly epitomized City’s poor work ethic out of possession.
The first goal stemmed from a harmless throw-in in City’s third, which saw Messi handed time and space to locate Suarez’s run to the near post. Kompany’s poor header placed the ball in an ideal position for the Barcelona striker to fire the away side into the lead.
The second highlighted Barca’s authoritative possession, but City’s inability to quickly close down Enrique’s midfield. City dropped into two banks of four, but the gap between each player was vast: they weren’t compact and lacked the discipline to shift and press as a unit. Put simply, Barca’s attacking six constantly popped up into pockets of space to serve as passing outlets to bypass City’s midfield, and the home side failed to cope with their movement.
Messi evaded both Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta — who wildly jumped off their line — with his penetrative run before sliding the ball wide to Jordi Alba, who calmly picked out Suarez in the box. The away side’s first half dominance was expected considering Pellegrini’s naivety, but Suarez constantly getting behind Kompany, along with the space allotted to Messi, summarized Barca’s first half dominance.
Perhaps Barca’s two-goal lead led to a drop off in their play, but City started the second half well, with Dzeko squandering two quality chances with tame headers. The away side stifled Zabaleta, preventing the Argentine from bombing forward, and although Messi occasionally closed down Clichy, the left back advanced into dangerous areas due to Dani Alves’ poor positioning — however, his crossing in attacking areas was severely underwhelming.
City’s issue creating chances may have been down to limited possession, but they struggled to bypass Barcelona’s organized midfield band, and were unable to exploit half-spaces. Aguero successfully moved into the channels to push City into attacking positions, but Pellegrini’s side was dangerous when they proactively pressed Enrique’s side.
Silva dispossessed Alves at the halfway line, before Aguero ran past Mascherano and curled an effort inches wide of the net. Aguero’s goal followed a similar pattern: Clichy nicked possession off Messi in Barca’s half, thus leading to Fernandinho quickly cycling a forward pass to Silva, who back-heeled the ball into the path of Aguero, and the Argentine skipped past Pique to hammer his shot into the net.
Pellegrini’s changes were essentially straight swaps with Fernandinho offering energy in central areas, while Wilfried Bony physical presence was intended to fluster Barca’s feeble set-piece defending. Unfortunately for City, Clichy’s dismissal thwarted a possible comeback, as they completed the match in a 4-3-2, and no longer possessed personnel to provide Bony and Aguero service.
Messi’s late penalty miss may have put the tie out of reach, but in fairness, Enrique’s side could have secured progression to the quarterfinals in the first half. In terms of personnel, City haven’t vastly improved, in comparison to Barca’s threat on the counter, and Pellegrini’s bold selection nearly ended in disaster.
City’s miraculous route to the round of 16 prevented disappointment at the group stage, but another woeful European display at the Etihad poses an insurmountable task for the Premier League champions in the second leg. For the umpteenth time, City allowed the opposition too much time in midfield, lacking a well-constructed plan out of possession, and for that, Pellegrini must be held responsible.
