Match Preview: Manchester City vs. Barcelona - UEFA Champions League - Round of 16 - Tuesday, 18/02/2014
After a long wait, the UEFA champions league is back with its next round i.e. Round of 16. In the first game of this round, Manchester City will host Barcelona at the Etihad Stadium. on Tuesday, February 18th, 2014. No matter what is their performance in domestic league, this is the toughest head to head of both teams & especially when they are facing each other in world’s biggest football league.
Manchester City most recently beat Chelsea 2-0 in the FA Cup, after losing to them 0-1 at home in the league the week before. Samir Nasri and Alvaro Negredo, who were out with injuries for some time, made a return to the lineup in the last game. They are most welcome back, as the team struggled in their absence. Stevan Jovetic, who has been out for most of the current season, started the last game, played well and scored a sweet goal. This is good news for City, as their star striker, Sergio Aguero, is still out with injury. Manchester City are very much in contention for four trophies this season and have, for the most part, been a powerhouse, especially at home. This is the club’s first ever UEFA Champions League knockout stage and they earned it by finishing second in Group D, behind Bayern and ahead of Plzen and CSKA. And despite this fact, City were able to beat the German champions and finish on 15 points - two more than Barca gained in Group H.
Barcelona are in great form at the moment. They just trashed Rayo Vallecano 6-0 in the league. Mid-week, Barca earned their spot in the Copa del Rey final by eliminating Real Sociedad, while a few days earlier, they beat Sevilla 4-1 in the league. Messi scored two goals in the last game and Neymar added a last minute beauty. Barcelona are at the top of the Spanish La Liga tables, in the finals of the Spanish cup and they are coming out as the number one team from Group H, which also featured Milan, Ajax and Celtic. Messi is in form. Neymar is back. Even Puyol started the last game. Barcelona are playing well and looking good!
Manchester City Vs Barcelona Time & Telecast Channels:
This first game of round of 16 will be played on 18-02-2014 [Tuesday] at 19:45 according to GMT. You can watch this game Live ON TV telecast channels like
beIN Sports 1, ITV , bTV Action , Sky Calcio , Sky sport 1 , Digi Sport 1 , Sport 1 , Espn , Arena Sport 3 , C+Sport
predicted line up:
Barcelona : Valdes , Alves , Pique , Mascherano , Alba , Sergio , Cesc , Xavi , Iniesta , Sanchez , Messi .
Manchester City : Hart , Zabaleta , Kombany , Demichelis , Kolarov , Milner , Toure , Silva , Navas , Nasri , Negredo
