Manchester City Must Hit Two Past Barcelona

Manchester City will have to overcome a 2-1 deficit away at Spanish titans Barcelona should they progress through to the next round of the Champions League. The Sky Blues went down 2-0 in the opening half of their first leg at the Etihad Stadium thanks to a quick-fire brace from Luis Suarez. Sergio Aguero halved the arrears in the second 45 before Gael Clichy was dismissed after being shown two yellow cards. Such a result means that the Manchester side will have to bag at least two goals should they have a chance of entering the draw for the next stage.

Indeed, Manuel Pellegrini`s men are the massive underdogs to qualify for the next round with a number of bookmakers pricing them up at 10/1 to progress by any means. This is in contrast to Barcelona who are available at the best price of 1/14 (Coral) to participate in the next stage of the tournament.

Betvictor have the best price on the game ending 2-1 to Luis Enrique`s men once again, 13/2 the odds with that bookie on that correct score prediction. betfair have 4/6 on the two teams hitting the back of the net for the second successive match against each other. Elsewhere, former Liverpool man Suarez is 13/2 with unibet to add to his Champions League tally by scoring another two or more goals in this second leg whilst Aguero is available at 10/1 (paddy Power) to be the final goalscorer once again.

Indeed, it is no surprise that their advantage means that it is the home side who are the favourites to win this second leg. Barcelona can be backed at 4/9 at both betfred and Totesport to secure the win in 90 minutes. An away win for City is available at 15/2 (Spreadex) whilst a draw is on offer at 9/2 at numerous turf accountants.

Manchester City currently sit in second position in the Premier League but are suffering from something of a downturn in form after only picking up three points from their last three matches in their domestic division. This victory came at home to Leicester (2-0) whilst they were beaten away from home by both Liverpool (2-1) and Burnley (1-0). They are now only four points from slipping out of the top four altogether.

Pellegrini`s men will be buoyed by the fact that they have scored in all but one of their Champions League games this season, that being away at Bayern Munich in their first European match of the season. With six goals, Aguero is the reigning Premier League champions` top scorer in this competition and is an 11/4 (betfair, paddy Power, Skybet) chance to score at any time during the encounter.

They have, however, only managed to keep one clean sheet in the tournament so far so, consequentially, a win to nil over Barcelona can be picked up at 16/1 with Spreadex.

The Catalan club are currently unbeaten in five in all competitions and have moved a point clear at the top of the La Liga table. Lionel Messi is their player in form at the minute having hit a hat-trick past Rayo Vallecano at home (6-1) and a brace in his club`s 2-0 win away at Eibar. unibet`s 4/1 says the Argentinean will score two or more goals tonight.

Enrique`s men have scored 17 goals in the Champions League this season, seven of these coming at the Nou Camp. An average of over two goals a game, 13/12 with 888sport and unibet says that the favourites can score over 2.5 past City at home. The home side have kept three European clean sheets but only have one in their last five games in all competitions.

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18/03/2015     © Frixo 2026