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Man with a plan? Manuel Pellegrini has struggled
against Barca in the past
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As City and Barca get ready
to rumble in the Champions League, we crunch the numbers to see who has the
edge at the Etihad
The Champions League awakes from it's mid-season slumber this week with all
eyes on Manchester City's tie with Barcelona.
Tuesday night's clash at the Etihad will
be the first time that the two sides have met in anger, so if you're looking to
the history books for any pointers or omens then you need to look harder.
Which is exactly what we've done.
How have Manchester City fared against Spanish teams historically? Manuel
Pellegrini has faced Barcelona many-a-time in Spain, so does he have their
number? And is it true that Lionel Messi can't do it on English soil?
Read on for answers to all these questions and more stat-based shenanigans
ahead of Tuesday's clash.
Does
Manuel Pellegrini have Barcelona's number?
The Chilean has
come across Barca plenty of times during his stints in charge of Villarreal,
Real Madrid and Malaga over the last decade - and like most managers in La
Liga, he doesn't have a great record against the Catalans.
Pellegrini's overall record in fact makes very grim reading: played
24, won 4, lost 16 and drawn 4, goals for 29, goals against 54.
And what's more, he's not been able to fashion a win against Lionel Messi
and company for almost six years, with his last success coming when he
masterminded a 2-1 win at the Nou Camp as Malaga boss in March 2008.
Since them he's played 15 times against the four-time champions of Europe,
only managing three draws and 12 defeats.
Yeah, but
can Lionel Messi do it in England?
The Argentinian genius has been on a one-man assault on the record books in
recent years, but if there's a chink in his armour, then it comes in the shape
of his record in England.
Messi has played on English soil nine times, managing only one goal and two
assists in 807 minutes of playing time. To be fair, it was rather a good goal -
the go-ahead strike in Barca's 3-1 win over Manchester United in the 2011 final
- but it's fair to say his record here isn't quite up to his norm: played
8, won 3, lost 4, drawn 2, scored 1, assisted 2.
The only time he's played in Manchester was in a 1-0 loss at Old Trafford
in the 2008 quarter-final, so City have got that going for them, too.
Do City
reign in Spain?
Tuesday night's clash with Barcelona will be the tenth time that City have
taken on a Spanish side and stat-wise, the previous nine encounters have been
split right down the middle: won 3, drawn 3, lost 3, goals scored 16,
goals conceded 13.
City's first foray against Spanish opposition came in the 1969-70 European
Cup Winners' Cup, when they dispatched Athletic Bilbao 6-3 over two legs.
One for
the crystal ball brigade
If the Citizens can get past their foes then recent history suggests that
they will go all the way, as the last six European Cups have either been won by
Barcelona, or the team that has knocked them out.
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