Manchester City vs Barcelona. UEFA Champions League Group C.
Etihad StadiumAttendance53,340.
Tuesday 1 November 2016 19:45, UK
Pep Guardiola is approaching Man City's Champions League clash with Barcelona as if it were a final and knows his side must be brilliant to win.
City host the Spanish champions at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday a fortnight after being thrashed 4-0 at the Nou Camp.
That has left City facing a battle to qualify from Group C for the Champions League last-16 having also been held to a draw by Celtic.
City manager Guardiola, speaking at his pre-match press conference, said: "I think we know what we have to do to beat them and hopefully our quality up front will make a difference.
"We have to play in that way - like a final. It's not a final for them, it is a final for us. There are just three games left and we dropped two points in Glasgow, so we have to recover those points in the next two games.
"We have to be focused for 90 minutes, knowing they are going to provoke mistakes because of the quality they have.
"But we had a few chances and have to keep going in that sense and try to finish better than we did in Barcelona.
"We will try. I have never entered a match thinking we can't win but we have to play almost perfectly."
Premier League leaders City go into the game having ended a six-match winless sequence with an emphatic 4-0 defeat of West Brom at the weekend.
Former Barcelona boss Guardiola said: "Winning the last game will help us a lot. When you play a game having won the previous one the feeling is much better. We play the best tomorrow and we're going to try to win."
Team news
Full-backs Pablo Zabaleta (foot) and Bacary Sagna (hamstring) are both set to miss the match with injury, while midfielder Fabian Delph is also unavailable with a muscle problem.
Willy Caballero will start in goal for City, with first-choice Claudio Bravo suspended after being sent off in the 4-0 loss in Catalonia.
The visitors, meanwhile, will be without the likes of Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba, Andres Iniesta, Jeremy Mathieu and Aleix Vidal due to injury, although Arda Turan is back in their squad.
Opta stats
Barcelona have won all five of their previous encounters with City; conceding only twice.
City suffered their heaviest Champions League defeat when these sides met in the reverse fixture, conceding four goals for the first time.
Guardiola is facing Barcelona as manager for the second season of his career; as Bayern Munich boss, he was knocked out by the Catalan side in the semi-finals of the 2014/15 Champions League (3-5 on aggregate).
City are unbeaten in their last six Champions League home games (W4 D2). They've never gone seven consecutive games without a defeat at the Etihad in the competition.
Barcelona have won their last three away Champions League games against English clubs, two of which were against City.
Barcelona have scored in their last 20 away games in the Champions League group stages.
There have been five red cards shown across the five previous meetings between these sides. Four of which being awarded to City players, only one of the five encounters has gone without seeing a red brandished.
Charlie Nicholas' prediction
What does Pep Guardiola do this time? Does he set up to deal with Barca's front three? Atletico do it, Real Madrid try to, I don't see how Manchester City can. They played pretty well at the Nou Camp but were undone by individual errors.
Guardiola's Barcelona were the best team I've ever seen but this Barca side are actually more dangerous on the counter-attack, they're just nowhere near as solid the back.
Everybody is making a big deal about the Sergio Aguero situation but Guardiola would play him in every match if he could. When you've got an injury problem you need to be managed properly.
It's a tough one to call but I can guarantee both teams will score here because City are nervous at the back, while Barca are also vulnerable and both sides are far better at attacking.
Charlie predicts: 2-2 and Raheem Sterling to score first (75/1 with Sky Bet)
Betting
Barcelona are Sky Bet's marginal favourites for the victory at 7/5, with City 7/4 and the draw priced at 13/5. Guardiola's men drifted out to 11/1 to win Group C after their 4-0 loss at the Nou Camp, but are just 1/7 to qualify for the knockout stages.
Luis Suarez is the 4/1 favourite to open the scoring, closely followed by Lionel Messi at 9/2, while Sergio Aguero is naturally considered the hosts' main threat at 5/1.
Barca are currently considered 11/4 favourites to win the Champions League with City fifth in the betting at 11/1.
