Pep Guardiola will travel to the Camp Nou on Wednesday night, desperate to end what’s become a worrying trend for both himself and Manchester City.
City have lost all four of their previous Champions League meetings with Barcelona, whilst Guardiola was also defeated in both legs of the 2015 semi-final with Bayern Munich.
Guardiola cannot concede defeat to Barcelona in their two meetings, having already struggled against Celtic in the group and he’ll have to get a positive result if he’s to continue his run of reaching the semi-finals in each of his last seven seasons as a manager.
Here we have a look at how City and Guardiola fared in recent years.
Manchester City 0-2 Barcelona – Round of 16 first leg, February 2014
Manuel Pellegrini’s side were doing well in their first ever Champions League knockout game and it was goalless at half time. However, Martin Demichelis’ clumsy challenge on Lionel Messi nine minutes into the second half resulted in the Argentinian scoring from the penalty spot, before Dani Alves doubled the lead in injury time.
Barcelona 2-1 Manchester City – Round of 16 second leg, March 2014
City were resilient again in the second leg and it took Barcelona 67 minutes to make the breakthrough, but City had plenty of chances to take the lead and make for a nervy ending. A piece of brilliance from Messi made it 3-0 on aggregate and although Vincent Kompany equalised, another injury time goal from Dani Alves saw the Catalans win 4-1 on aggregate.
Manchester City 1-2 Barcelona – Round of 16 first leg, February 2015
It was the same stage of the competition for the second season in a row, but City weren’t as resilient this time. Luis Suarez effectively ended the tie in the first 30 minutes with a brace and although Sergio Aguero pulled a goal back in the second half, Gael Clichy was sent off with 15 minutes to go, City’s third red card in three games against Barcelona.
Barcelona 1-0 Manchester City – Round of 16 second leg, March 2015
This encounter could have been humiliating for City had it not been for Joe Hart in goal. Ivan Rakitic ended the tie in the first half, but City were inept defensively, forcing Hart to keep the score respectable. Barcelona went on to win the Champions League as part of a historic treble.
Barcelona 3-0 Bayern Munich – Semi Final first leg, May 2015
Barcelona had never beaten Bayern without Guardiola as manager, and with the Bavarians having already won the Bundesliga, Barcelona weren’t heavily favoured. Guardiola had set his Bayern side up to man-mark every Barca player, but changed the style after 20 minutes. It remained goalless until the 77th minute when Lionel Messi broke through. Just three minutes after the first goal, Messi struck again and left Jerome Boateng sprawling on the floor before lobbing the ball over Manuel Neuer. Bayern were hanging on, but Neymar’s late goal meant that Bayern would have to overturn a three-goal deficit in the second leg.
Bayern Munich 3-2 Barcelona – Semi Final second leg, May 2015
Mehdi Benatia scored an early goal to raise hope for the Bavarians, but a quick-fire brace from Neymar ended the tie before half time. Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller fired back for Bayern and they won the game, but the tie had already been decided and Guardiola was left with just domestic success.
