Barcelona faced Manchester City at the Etihad stadium and came out the victors. The game had everything, high intensity, goals, a red card, and a penalty miss. With a 2-1 advantage, Barca will look to be their best as the try to kill the tie off in the Camp Nou. Here are some observations from the game.
Pique is truly back to his epic best
Pique had a superb game against Manchester City at the Etihad. He was everywhere in defense; his passing was excellent, his positioning was top class, and his tackles were timed to perfection. This is the Pique that Barca fans remember from the past, and are growing to love this season. The clumsy Pique of old seems to disappearing, and a more mature version of him is coming out of its wake. Whether it’s Puyol yelling from the stands, or having a second child, Mr. Shakira has been our defender of the season. Barca fans everywhere are hoping that he can carry this form for a LONG time.
Luis Suarez loves terrorizing English teams
Two goals against Hart here, and two in the World Cup; Luis Suarez just loves rubbing it in England’s face. He has made it abundantly clear with his words, his antics on the field, and his goals. Every time he steps onto the field against an English team, he seems to make a personal goal to try to torment them in every which way. It’s no secret how the English Media treated him in his stint in England, make him out as some sort of wrongdoer. In England, he could do no right. In Barcelona, however, things are much different. The name Suarez gets chanted by the Camp Nou faithful for almost everything; misses, goals, and just about everything else. Suffice to say, this cule is just waiting to Suarez play Man City in the Camp Nou.
Barca’s starting fullbacks need to work on their crosses
Aside from his delivery that lead to Suarez’s goal, Jordi Alba’s deliveries were embarrassing. Let us not even get started on Dani Alves, whose deliveries have become infamous with Barca fans. Jordi Alba’s crosses don’t even beat the first defender half the time, and when they do, they go nowhere. It was the same story with the game against Malaga. Repeated crosses to nowhere, giving up the ball to the opponent, leads to counterattacks which could prove costly for Barca. Lucho needs to work on this in the practice fields.
Messi needs to work on his penalties
We love you Leo, but you need to either improve your penalty taking, or give others a chance. Suarez had the chance for a hat trick, but didn’t take the penalty. Messi’s miss could end up being very costly, seeing as a 3-1 victory would have effectively killed off the tie. Now, we have a bit of work to do at the Camp Nou. Messi has admitted to feeling a bit nervous when taking penalties, and has had 3 of them saved this season already. He should have allowed Suárez to claim his first Barcelona hat trick. This is something that needs to be sorted out by the Barca coach and players. Suárez is a true, clinical striker, and will dispatch penalty after penalty if given the chance. Leo needs to step up, or step aside.
Barca holds the advantage, and the away goals
Barca got two away goals against Man City, thus hold 2 advantages in the tie. The first advantage being that of the away goals, as mentioned before. Manchester City now need a 2-0 result at the camp Nou to advance, and with Barca’s destructive trio, a clean sheet is hard to come by for opponents, aside from Malaga apparently. Barca’s second advantage is that they play the leg at home, in front of 98,000 screaming fans. With these disadvantages, things look tougher for Manchester City in the UCL. They can take comfort in knowing that Barca play Real Madrid the weekend after the second leg. Barca might have their attention half focused on the league during the game …
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