By IVES GALARCEP
The UEFA Champion League knockout rounds kick off on Tuesday with the tastiest matchup of the Round of 16 as FC Barcelona travels to England to take on Manchester City (2:45pm, Fox Sports 1).
The Citizens enter as underdogs, but will like their chances of pulling off an upset against a Barcelona side riding the confidence that comes with their recent 6-0 drubbing of Rayo Vallecano over the weekend. Manchester City will offer a much tougher test though, and City has been especially tough at the Etihad, where today’s match takes place.
In the day’s other UEFA Champions League clash, Paris St. Germain takes on Bayer Leverkusen (2:45pm, Fox Sports 2) in a match PSG will be heavily favored in.
If you will be watching today’s matches, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action.
Mou is nothing more than a loud mouthed charlatan. His gamesmanship is petty, childish, and transparent. The guy has zero class. I think it takes more ability to manage Arsenal with one financial hand tied behind your back the way Wenger does than to manage Real Madrid and Chelski, where they back up the dump truck filled with Euros whenever they need a new player.
Mourinho lopking like a fool again with his comments about this Barcelona side.
I let out a “wow” and a “whoa!” at work on some of those passes in the 18 by Barca.
On a side note, Alex Morgan’s SI Swimsuit photoshoot is out. Yeah, I love soccer.
prefer someone with a chest. DD’s to G.
but yeah she’s a great player
=(
I have things to say but this is neither the place nor time.
Shes as flat as a 10 year old boy,
But yeah great player and thats all that matters i guess
Dani Alves with the second, this tie is more or less over at this point.
Barcelona just had a goal taken away by a pretty bad offside call.
Also these announcers are really one sided. How would a one zero loss at home feel like a result? At least get some Arsenal fans or something?
Alves scored anyway soon after, 2-0 Barca
agreed. i dislike Barca being a Madrid fan and all, but i thought it was insane the announcers didn’t even mention that it was a bad offside call.
just saw the “PK”…that was also a bad call. it was outside the box, IMO.
Man city have looked better with 10 than 11. Surprised at the chances they have created since going down to 10.
Dzeko being huge is helping a lot with that I think. Oops 2-0
interesting observation, I agree
That should have been two. Clearly onside.
God Barcelona fans certainly like their high horse.
Silva rips a volley dipping low and hard to back post, Valdes saves. that would have made it interesting
Silva robbed like a blind man.
Nice shot David Silva. Can’t do much more than that.
D*ck move bringing on Neymar.
Not a fan of City at all but in my eyes that foul was outside the box, the red was deserved but that wasn’t a penalty. It doesn’t matter where Messi fouls, it is where the contact occurs.
As they discussed, there was plenty of contact in the box. Referee fully allowed to call the foul in the box there.
Extremely close, here is a still of when the contact happened that made him fall: http://i.imgur.com/vT6Zcf7.jpg
Ya, it was outside of the box but such a close thing. You wouldn’t be able to tell with instant replay.
Indeed. I had to rewind a few times to make sure, so making that call live would have been very hard. It was a clear foul and a clear red card. Not a smart decision to attempt that at the very start of the second half.
It’s not that penalty goal that may decide the tie, but the second goal, almost assured after playing a man down for a half that might. City played well with 10, imagine what might have been if they didn’t play a man down for a half.
City is late to every ball, every tackle, every 50/50. Can’t even fault them too much. Barcelona is looking like the Barcelona of old. Probably really shocking to come up against a team with this skill after EPL play.
I think city can really deal with a team like Barsca or Bayern.
I know they beat Bayern in that second game but City just seem confused by European teams sometimes. Ajax beat them in the group stage last year….
I don’t think city have been completely outclassed here today. Even with ten men they’re manufacturing chances.
And that’s probably it for Manchester City. Man down and goal down. Had to be Messi, right?
he had almost sprung Iniesta earlier
Barca playing like they sell blood too
*smell blood that is
Goal down. Man down. And an away leg to play. Bye, City.
Game overrrr.
Barca looking confident, and DeMichelis gets the red card and PK…why not make him score it? I know it’s Messi but those decisions to make challenges like that punish the entire team more than just the original mistake.
and Messi scores the PK anyway
I understand that Pelligrini knows and trusts DeMichelis from his prior team, but Chelsea ran over and through DeMichelis in the EPL and Barca had to see the old pro as the weak link.
gotta agree. wasn’t too tough to see he was most likely to get beat as the game wore on
When I saw DeMichelis name on the starting lineup I knew that was where Barca would attack. Slow and old are not a good combo as Messi seems to get stronger as the game goes on. Watching the replay – it took several rewinds- the foul was *just* outside the box, but it was indeed a foul and a red card. It was a poor decision by DeMichelis to attempt that challenge at the very start of the second half.
lively start to the 2nf half
Barca-MC that is
zlatan you magnificent bastard
pretty boring game so far in Manchester
I don’t think it has been boring at all. Maybe there haven’t been a ton of clear-cut chances, but some of the class shown has been great. Some great players on the field in this game, the touch and speed with which they play is amazing to watch.
I don’t think Zlatan is human..wow, pick that out.
wow
I have a bridge for anyone who believes Cesc Fabregas has the strength in two arms let alone one ti pull down Yaya. Cheeky.
why did Landon Donovan flop out at Leverkusen?
Negredo off target all half so far, Alves numerous fouls on Kolarov got under his skin it seems and Kolarov earned his yellow
City may want to try and cut down on tackles like that…. won’t have any players left.
Ya, city is getting luck some of those tackles miss or that Barca got advantage. If they landed they would have about, 3 or 4 yellows? Maybe a red card.
Someone called Dani Alves overrated a while ago. He is just hacking people like crazy this game. 4 fouls in like 15 minutes and a yellow.
Very impressive considering barca had 73% possession in the opening 20 minutes.