City vs Barca - Post Match Thread

[e_1999]

Didn't think Barcelona were that special what respect I had for them has gone diving cheating bastards. Boys did me proud although I think it's over I think we can still beat em away.

Just got back from match. IMHO Bayern Munich were more impressive. Very surprised how dirty they were.
Once we realised they were not as good as Bayern,thought we started to play with more belief.

Another story of missed chances especially the Negredo header at the end of the first half.
They were at full strength and we weren't. Still think we can score at the Nou Camp so tie not over yet.

Thought atmosphere was great and singing from all sides of ground. Great rendition of Blue Moon.

CTID

You played an open game against Bayern. You were more cagey against us, that makes all the difference.
For reference of how Bayern perform when a team doesn't play open against them, look at the 2-2 draw against Chelsea where chelsea were seconds away from winning.
We never needed to win that game today and thankfully we aren't as tactically naive as we were away from home (even under Pep) where we would get beaten or draw games even against ten men.

 

[foetus]

Disappointed with the result....wasn't deserved imo. Only halfway through the tie and we should have a stronger team in the second leg. Frustrated at the ease of the barca players going down.

Lets smash 'em at the Camp Nou!

 

[e_1999]

I find Guardiola's teams boring, I find Spain boring and this current Barça manager's team boring.

I find the way we play (weren't at our best tonight with the ball) and the way Ancelloti's teams play far more exciting.

i would say barca's current style which i saw tonight was a bit boring yes, but i wouldn't say pep's style is boring.

that barca team he had for about 3-4 years played football that you could jerk off to.

and now his bayern team are playing similarly.

when we played barca a few years ago, they were mesmerising. in the first game which we drew 2-2, they should have beaten us 10-0.

they aren't close to that level now though.

I used to love watching Barca play. Not this team. They keep possession well, but they don't look like scoring. I remember that game. First hour they were brilliant and then it looked like they ran out of steam. Did Fabregas score with a hurt foot? He got a bit of booing when he went off. never really liked him as he always tried to referee games

Your mate Nasri is playing out of his skin at the moment. I think he is right up there with the very best players. Unfortunately not quite fit enough to start.

Good Luck against Bayern. I think they will beat you. But that's only because they are the best.

I'd rather we play the way we did today than attack brainlessly when we don't need to, resulting in these key results that arguably cost us another champions league title

Inter 3- Barcelona 1
Barcelona 2- Chelsea 2

 

[Bluemoonbaldboy]

A bit gutted we were frustrating them keeping them at bay till the red card. Even then when we upped the tempo we looked the most likely till that sickner 2nd so late on. Agree with the comments about Bayern they do look a level above Barca, but we've shown we aren't far off that level. Would have loved to played with a full strength side but tactically we were bob on till the red card

 

[mc_red23]

Here is a question - IF the ref had given a free kick right on the edge of the box instead of a pen -
would MDM still have got a red (for being the last man)?
I was just wondering because this season I have seen "a last man" defender 40 yds from the goal bring down an attacker and got a red.

It's nothing to do with being "the last man", The quesrion is did he deny a clear goal-scoring opportunity?

And the answer was "yes he did." So the red card was correct although it's barmy to give one when you've awarded a penalty as you haven't actually denied a goal-scoring opportunity.

How is it barmy? By not giving a red and only giving a penalty you basically only provide the same opportunity that the attacker had originally anyway. Therefore, there would be no punishment as such for the defender. The punishment is a red card. A red card being awarded should not depend on whether they have been given a penalty or a free kick. Now that is barmy.

Free kicks sometimes are massive goal scoring opportunities, especially when you consider the talents of Yaya Toure, Suarez, Beckham, Pirlo, Juninho, Carlos etc. etc.

 

[afc16]

I find Guardiola's teams boring, I find Spain boring and this current Barça manager's team boring.

I find the way we play (weren't at our best tonight with the ball) and the way Ancelloti's teams play far more exciting.

i would say barca's current style which i saw tonight was a bit boring yes, but i wouldn't say pep's style is boring.

that barca team he had for about 3-4 years played football that you could jerk off to.

and now his bayern team are playing similarly.

when we played barca a few years ago, they were mesmerising. in the first game which we drew 2-2, they should have beaten us 10-0.

they aren't close to that level now though.

I used to love watching Barca play. Not this team. They keep possession well, but they don't look like scoring. I remember that game. First hour they were brilliant and then it looked like they ran out of steam. Did Fabregas score with a hurt foot? He got a bit of booing when he went off. never really liked him as he always tried to referee games

Your mate Nasri is playing out of his skin at the moment. I think he is right up there with the very best players. Unfortunately not quite fit enough to start.

Good Luck against Bayern. I think they will beat you. But that's only because they are the best.

yep, that was the game where fabregas as it turned out afterwards had actually fractured his leg but carried on playing and even scoring the penalty to make it 2-2.

they started like a house on fire and to this day is the most complete football i've seen played against us, almunia had a great game and stopped it being a cricket score.

nasri - begrudgingly will admit that he is a brilliant player. any city fans if you havent seen it already, watch the 2 goals he scored against fulham and the goal he scored in the champions league against some small team i can't remember who it was but stunning 3 goals there.

fabregas - still believe he's the best attacking midfielder in the world, but because of barca's short passing game, his talent is being wasted a bit. at arsenal we play short passes but we also play a lot of medium and longer passes, which is what fabregas was brilliant at. in this current barca team he doesn't get much opportunity to play slightly longer passes and through balls from deep like he did when he was at arsenal.

 

[ayrshire_blue]

Rather than making a new thread, thought i'd ask in here.

Did anyone else see Kompany pull up slightly and hold his hamstring...it was immediately after the point we were 1-0 down and he put in an absolutely first class tackle on Messi who was running directly at him close to their right hand side, 10 yards into our half or so?

Both the commentators picked up on it, so it's not just me who noticed.

I'm only concerned he has ended up playing on for 20 minutes or so with an injury, which could be more costly in the long run.

He seemed OK, and continued to put in a solid performance, so I hope there's nothing to it. Just wondering if anyone else noticed and has heard anything since?

 

[NQCitizen]

Very surprised how dirty they were.

Care to expand on that?

As a City fan I actually really disagree. Thought Barca didn't make half as many dangerous cynical fouls as Madrid, Bayern, Juventus, Napoli etc and bar falling over way too softly, the irritating antics of Alves and Busquets, most players acquitted themselves pretty fairly.

Fans were nicer than a lot of clubs too. Shame we lost the second goal as going into Camp Nou needing to overturn 1-0 could have produced a classic.

Tonight I'm proud of the players, including Demichelis, and impressed by the opposition as a whole.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Here is a question - IF the ref had given a free kick right on the edge of the box instead of a pen -
would MDM still have got a red (for being the last man)?
I was just wondering because this season I have seen "a last man" defender 40 yds from the goal bring down an attacker and got a red.

It's nothing to do with being "the last man", The quesrion is did he deny a clear goal-scoring opportunity?

And the answer was "yes he did." So the red card was correct although it's barmy to give one when you've awarded a penalty as you haven't actually denied a goal-scoring opportunity.

How is it barmy? By not giving a red and only giving a penalty you basically only provide the same opportunity that the attacker had originally anyway. Therefore, there would be no punishment as such for the defender. The punishment is a red card.

The punishment is the penalty, if the foul is inside the area and should be additionally punished (if necessary) with the same sanction as if it happened somewhere else on the field. So if it would have been a yellow then give a yellow and the same for a red.

But by fouling someone in the area, you give away a penalty and restore the goal-scoring opportunity. Therefore, by definition, you haven't denied it. The ref card for DOCGSO was originally introduced ot punish defenders who committed fouls outside the area, knowibng they wouldn't give away a penalty and were unlikely to get sent off either.

Some of us had this out with Mike Riley a couple of years ago and he admitted they'd thought about this. however he spoiled it by then saying "but we decided that the defending player would just wait until the attacker was inside the area." To which we said "But then it's a penalty and he hasn't gotten away with it."

It shouldn't be a red card just because it happens inside the area. It should be the same wherever on the field it occurs. However, if the defender is adjudged to have denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity and there is no other sanction available then a red card is correct.

 

[Kerry bai]

Graham Poll (ex-referee): "Contact continued until at least line marking penalty area and further, meaning awarding a penalty was correct."

Unlucky guys. There is still a second half to be played and I hope it will be a classic. Barca have reach 6 consecutive semi finals so losing is no shame. With some more experience City will be able to break into the European elite clubs, i.e. Barca, Madrid, Bayern. I don't see this team having years of European mediocrity like we see with Arsenal.