Man City knocked down a peg

An optimistic and hopeful Manchester City were brushed aside last night by Barcelona by two goals to nothing in their own back yard, the defeat makes their task of getting to the quarter finals almost impossible and has diminished any thoughts of City being a European power.

Going into the game big things were expected of City against a poor Barcelona side by their standards, according to Jose Mourinho anyway, last night however Barcelona looked nothing shy of excellent.

They showed that they are still one of, if not the, strongest side in Europe at this moment in time. The quality of their play and their control of the possession was an indicator of the long way Man City are behind the best teams in Europe.

The red card undoubtedly hindered their efforts but even before that they were shaky at the back, mainly because of the man who later received the red card- Demichelis. Xavi and Iniesta ran the midfield nulling Man City’s main creative players Silva and Yaya Toure.

Man City’s prolific attacking force looked average to say the least as Barcelona’s defence dealt with them with relative ease. (If Aguero was fit however it may have been a different story)

Barcelona set the standard that City aspire to reach, and until they do so they will have to be content with just reaching the knock-out stages.

Despite the damaging defeat, Man City’s stats don’t lie, they are the best attacking team in Europe this season and if any team could score at least two at the Nou Camp, City seem the most likely to achieve it.

Barcelona on the other hand will be looking to cruise past City at the Nou Camp and cement their credentials for this season’s Champions League.