Match report: City 0 - 2 Barcelona

And our first match post knockout stage is in the books, and it didn’t have the "story book beginning" most of us had hoped for. The first half was goalless, but it wasn’t for lack of chances. Barcelona, as you would guess, controlled possession for the most part and City defended well. But, City had their chances to get a goal for the good, but missed chances by Negredo and others left the score line goalless at half.

The second half started similar to the last, but Barcelona’s pressure finally got to City’s back four, and more importantly, Demichelis. The Argentinean was shown a red card eight minutes into the second half for his foul on Messi in the box. Messi stepped up to take the PK and didn’t miss. For those who watched the match, should it have been called a penalty, or no? From the picture I saw it looked like a good call, but that’s only a picture. Dani Alves finished off the match with a goal in the 90^th minutes, as he beat Hart from a tight angle to make it 0-2 to Barcelona. It was a disappointing ending to a thrilling match, as City looked to be full of energy and could grab a late equalizer, but it wasn’t to be.

The game ended 0-2 to Barcelona, but it could have been worse for the Blues since they were down a man for the majority of the second half. The final minutes of play, City showed the fight and the "never say never" attitude we have loved to see from them this season, but it just wasn’t enough to stop the high flying Barca attack. With the game at 0-1 it looked that the reverse fixture would be an exciting one at the Camp Nou. But, with the aggregate score at 0-2 Barcelona, the hill looks even steeper for City heading into the March 12^th match. How are you feeling after the game, Citizens? Proud, but painfully disappointed by the last goal? Or just proud to see where City has come over the years?