Manchester City Vs FC Barcelona. Who will make it to the next level?

Manchester city was the first team out of the hat in champion’s league draws and the city fans held their breath to see who awaited them. It was never going to be easy for City as they knew that they would be facing one of Europe’s elite teams. In the end they were paired with FC Barcelona. It is a clearly difficult tie so we need to evaluate the chances each club has for progressing in the competition.
City will have to be on top of their game if they are to progress to the quarter-final, but they should not fear this Barcelona side. The days of their total domination seem to be over, with last year’s 7-0 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich, a result which didn’t flatter the Germans, unthinkable two years ago at the peak of the Pep Guardiola era. Another reason to worry less is the aging team of Barcelona. Puyol is thirty five years of age and has only played few games this season. While Gerard Pique is a good center back, Puyol has been the leader and organizer of the Barcelona defense for the last decade and, without him, they may struggle against City’s free scoring attack. Also, City’s manager Manuel Pellegrini is a key advantage here as he formerly managed Real Madrid, Malaga and Villarreal & has faced Barcelona countless times and will surely use his prior experiences to his team’s advantage. Moreover, the likes of Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure and Alvaro Negrado could also cause Barca a lot of problems. Set pieces could play a big part too as Barca have struggled with them over the years. Celtic focused on them massively to beat them last year in the group stage.
Now given all the advantages of City, it’s time to hear the Spanish side. A team of Barcelona’s caliber has been built to face difficult opponents such as the Citizens. Barca’s degree of experience in such big occasions and continued ambition to achieve success within the current squad will certainly play a decisive factor. The Blaugrana players will definitely be eager to prove that to their supporters (and themselves, for that matter), and despite the criticism they have been suffering in recent weeks, they have what it takes to succeed against their very wealthy opponents in the next round of European football. Also the timing seems to be in favor of Barca as its star player Lionel Messi is back in action ending 59 day goal drought at Barca by smashing first two goals against sevilla in a match where Barca managed a 4-1 win.  Messi’s counterpart Neymar also seems to be recovered from the injury when he said “We are prepared for Manchester City” & seems to be waiting for his chances to put on a wonderful game.
In all its very difficult to predict who will win, given the quality of players in both the clubs who have a clear attacking philosophy. Thus, irrespective of the outcome, one thing is sure that both teams will put on a great show while fighting relentlessly towards the next round.