Barcelona vs Manchester City: Preview, Prediction, Expected lineups and Betting Odds

Oct 19, 2016 at 10:46 AM

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Barcelona vs Manchester City: Preview, Prediction, Expected lineups and Betting Odds

After tasting their first defeat in the new season, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City were not able to find a winning combination against Everton at the weekend in the Premier League. They were held to a 1-1 draw by the Toffees leaving Guardiola something to think about ahead of their crunch tie in the Champions League. Guardiola will now travel to the scene of his first managerial career in Barcelona as both sides fight for early supremacy in their league. Here is the preview of this game, along with the team news, expected lineups, predictions and betting odds:

The group stage fixture between Barcelona and Manchester City in the Champions League will be played on Wednesday, the 19th of October at the Camp Nou in Barcelona. The kick off is scheduled at 7:45 pm BST (12:15 am IST on Thursday).

Team News:

Luis Enrique will be happy after his full-back duo Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto are both declared fit to play this game against City. Lionel Messi who came off he bench at the weekend is also expected to start this game for the home side.

Club skipper Vincent Komapny came on for a cameo in the game against Everton at the weekend but he might not be fit enough to start this game in Spain. Bacary Sagna and Fabian Delph are however ruled out for this fixture.

Expected Lineups:

Barcelona:

Ter Stegen, Roberto, Pique, Mascherano, Alba; Busquets, Iniesta, Rakitic; Messi, Suarez, Neymar Jr

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Manchester City:

Bravo; Zabaleta, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov; Fernandinho; Sterling, Silva, Gundogan, De Bruyne; Aguero

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Key Battles:

Sergio Aguero vs Gerard Pique:

The Argentine has been in sublime form in front of goal this season and will be a constant threat at the back for the Barcelona. However, he will be up against a strong and in form Gerard Pique who will give him no space and time on the ball. This is a battle that can decide the game.

Lionel Messi vs Nicolas Otamendi:

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Messi was back in action at the weekend and will be fit and raring to go in this game against Manchester City. Playing at home he will be high on confidence and will torment Otamendi at the back for the visitors. Otamendi has had his own problems recently but he will have to be at his best for his side to take anything from this game.

Key Stats:

Barcelona and Manchester City are facing each other for the third time in the last four seasons of the Champions League.

Barcelona have won all four of their previous encounters with Manchester City, all in the Last 16 of the Champions League (2013/14 & 2014/15).

Liverpool are the only English team to beat Barcelona at Camp Nou in the Champions League, it was in February 2007 (2-1). In the other 19 English trips to the Catalan ground in the competition, there have been 11 Barcelona wins and eight draws.

Pep Guardiola is facing Barcelona as manager for the second time; as Bayern Munich boss, he was knocked out by the Catalan side in the semi-finals of the 2014/15 Champions League (3-5 on aggregate), including a 3-0 defeat at Camp Nou.

Barcelona have scored in each of their last 17 home Champions League games since September 2013 (W16 D1), netting 52 goals at an average of just over three per game.

Man City have lost six of their last eight trips to Spain in European competition, winning 3-0 against Villarreal in November 2011 and 3-1 against Sevilla in November 2015.

These two sides have scored 16 goals between them in their opening two group games so far this campaign, with Barcelona netting nine and Man City seven. The only other side with more than six goals is Borussia Dortmund (8).

Since losing 2-1 to Rubin Kazan in October 2009, Barcelona are unbeaten in 20 home Champions League group games, winning 18 and drawing two.

Neymar assisted five goals in two Champions League games this campaign, three more than any other player. Indeed, since his debut in the competition in September 2013 he has assisted more goals than any other player (12).

Sergio Aguero has scored six goals in his three European appearances this season, both hat-tricks (v Steaua Bucharest in a Champions League qualifier and against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the group stage).

Betting Odds:

Barcelona: 8/15

Draw: 15/4

Manchester City: 5/1

Prediction:

Both teams are too closely matched to run away with a thumping victory but playing at home, Barcelona will go into this game as favorites. However, they have showed their weaknesses recently and Pep Guardiola is good enough to exploit them from the away dugout. Surely this game is not easy to call.

Our Prediction: Barcelona 2-2 Manchester City

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