City and Pep’s Barcelona woes

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will go up against his former side Barcelona in the Champions League group stages looking to buck a worrying trend. 

City have lost all four of their previous Champions League matches against Barcelona, and Guardiola himself tasted defeat over two legs in the semi-final with Bayern Munich in 2015.

With Borussia Monchengladbach also in Group C, and a Battle of Britain north of the border against Celtic to boot, Guardiola simply cannot write off the two meetings with the Catalan giants.

Guardiola has reached the semi-finals in each of his seven seasons as manager in the Champions League, but has been knocked out at this stage in the last four campaigns.

Here’s how City, and Guardiola, have fared against Barcelona in recent years…

Man City 0-2 Barcelona – Round of 16 first leg, February 2014

City’s first-ever knockout-stage draw in the Champions League was not kind, but Manuel Pellegrini’s side were holding Tata Martino’s Barcelona until half-time at the Etihad.

It only took nine minutes of the second period to fall behind, Martin Demichelis cynically bringing down Lionel Messi, who dusted himself down to slot the penalty away, before a last-gasp Dani Alves goal made it 2-0, and seemingly game, set and match.

Barcelona 2-1 Man City – Round of 16 second leg, March 2014

In the return leg, City again held Barca for 67 …

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