The Manchester City manager paid the price for leaving Sergio Agüero out of his starting lineup, writes Sid Lowe:
Pep Guardiola has defended goalkeeper Claudio Bravo after his red card in the heavy defeat:
Here’s David Hytner’s match report from the Camp Nou:
Full-time: Barcelona 4-0 Manchester City
A Lionel Messi hat-trick, one from Neymar, a handsome victory over Barcelona, who maintain their 100% record over Manchester City. For Pep Guardiola’s side, it was a chastening night. Claudio Bravo was guilty of a farcical red card and they made far too many mistakes. Barcelona are clear at the top of the group and City still have work to do.
Updated
90 min: There will be two added minutes. There was a five minute delay after Bravo’s red card. Fair enough.
GOAL! Barcelona 4-0 Manchester City (Neymar, 89 min)
Neymar makes up for his squandered penalty by adding Barcelona’s fourth. Messi tees him up and Neymar sells John Stones a dummy, feinting inside and stroking the ball past Caballero with the inside of his right foot.
Updated
CABALLERO SAVES NEYMAR'S PENALTY!
87 min: Neymar hits his penalty low and tame to Caballero’s right and the Manchester City goalkeeper easily pushes it away. Give it to Messi next time.
Updated
Penalty to Barcelona!
Past one. Past two. Kolarov chops Messi down. An easy decision.
Updated
82 min: Caballero keeps the score respectable, sort of, making a point blank save from Neymar, who met Rakitic’s cross from six yards out.
80 min: Andre Gomes replaces Andres Iniesta. Both teams have used all of their subs now. “Anyone translated the word ‘Cityitis’ for Pep yet?” says Adam Hirst. “If not, then there is a fella who also works in Manchester and might be able to help, he’s worked as a translator before…”
79 min: Sergio Aguero replaces Ilkay Gundogan.
78 min: Sterling brilliantly flicks a ball through to Silva, who can’t return the ball to him. Sergio Aguero is getting ready to come on. He won’t have long to score a hat-trick.
Jeremy Mathieu is sent off!
74 min: Jeremy Mathieu fouls Sterling again and picks up his second yellow card of the evening! That is absurd. What was he thinking? Sterling was free on the left but the danger was minimal and he was already on a booking. Luis Enrique is unimpressed. City have a sliver of hope.
Updated
72 min: Kolarov drives his free-kick low and round the wall, but Ter Stegen parries the fizzing effort back into the six-yard box. It’s not City’s night. No one can turn the rebound in and Barcelona clear.
71 min: Raheem Sterling musters some defiance with a positive run that ends with a clumsy foul by Mathieu on the edge of the Barcelona area on the right. The defender is booked and Kolarov looks like he might have a go from here.
GOAL! Barcelona 3-0 Manchester City (Messi, 69 min)
Lionel Messi completes his hat-trick after more shocking defending from Manchester City. Gundogan plays a pass behind the flat-footed Stones and it’s a truly wonderful through ball to release Suarez on the left. He knocks it inside to Messi, who calmly cushions it past Caballero with his left foot.
Updated
69 min: Caballero claws the ball away from Neymar as he tries to reach a ball over the top. But...
64 min: City muster an impressive response, Gundogan prodding an excellent pass through to De Bruyne, who shoots low and early. Ter Stegen saves well down to his right and Barcelona concede a corner. It’s taken short to De Bruyne, whose fierce shot forces Ter Stegen into another save. Barcelona break and Clichy, attempting to stop Suarez from going through on goal, slips and handles 30 yards out.
63 min: You have to fear for Manchester City now. Down to 10 men, this could turn ugly if Barcelona discover some intensity and decide to pile on the pain.
GOAL! Barcelona 2-0 Manchester City (Messi, 61 min)
Manchester City’s 10 men haven’t held out for long. Kevin de Bruyne cheaply gives the ball away and Iniesta quickly moves it to Messi on the right. He shifts it on to his deadly left foot and finds the bottom left corner with an accurate finish. He has his second. Without playing well, Barcelona are cruising towards victory.
Updated
60 min: Busquets slips a pass through to Suarez, who races into the area, only to find John Stones to be a sizeable obstacle. Fine defending.
58 min: After all that, I forgot that Barcelona had a free-kick on the edge of the area. Messi is standing over it. Welcome to the game, Willy! Luckily for Caballero, Messi wafts his effort miles over.
57 min: Willy Caballero replaces Nolito and Gael Clichy replaces Pablo Zabaleta.
56 min: Zabaleta picked up this injury after a foul by Lucas Digne, which didn’t look too problematic at the time. He’s on his feet again but he’s walking off and play still hasn’t restarted. His foot looks quite bloody.
54 min: City haven’t made their change yet. Willy Caballero is getting ready to come on and Pablo Zabaleta is down with what might be a nasty injury. Bravo got a nice round of applause when he walked off. It wasn’t the best return to his old club.
Claudio Bravo is sent off!
53 min: What a horrendous couple of errors from the Manchester City goalkeeper! Under little pressure after a long, aimless punt forward from Barcelona, first he taps the ball straight to Luis Suarez, who tries to lift it over Bravo from 30 yards. Outside his area, Bravo desperately saves Suarez’s effort and is sent off for handball outside the area! Dearie me, that was dreadful. The Hartdog must have enjoyed that. What a farce. City are down to 10 men. Bravo!
Updated
51 min: From the resulting corner, Umtiti heads just past the left post. Bravo didn’t look overly concerned.
50 min: Neymar ambles forward, cutting inside from the left, and finds Rakitic. His cross goes behind for a corner.
49 min: Very little is coming off for Barcelona’s front three at the moment, while we’ve not seen much from Iniesta or Rakitic.
47 min: Sterling slides a clever pass down the right, De Bruyne scampering behind the Barcelona defence. His low ball is cleared. He’s at it again moments later but drives his cross straight at Ter Stegen.
46 min: Off we go again. Barcelona get the second half underway. Meanwhile a friend of the MBM has got himself above the line, as it were.
Half-time: Barcelona 1-0 Manchester City
Barcelona lead thanks to Lionel Messi’s early goal but this hasn’t been entirely convincing. Manchester City are still in this.
45 min+2: This is opening up now and Sterling digs a cross towards the near post. De Bruyne, under pressure, hooks the ball into the side netting. City appear to think that Digne handled Sterling’s cross.
Updated
45 min+1: Luis Suarez almost makes John Stones pay for that miss immediately, swivelling in the Manchester City area and shooting with his left. Bravo saves with his feet but the ball spins up and towards the City goal, forcing the goalkeeper to hurtle back and acrobatically push it over the bar.
Updated
45 min: A free-kick to Manchester City on the left. Silva swings it in from the left and Stones sends a free header wide at the far post! What a miss!
Updated
43 min: De Bruyne carves Barcelona open with an impudent pass out to Nolito on the left. He’s indecisive, though, and settles for a corner. It’s quickly worked to Gundogan, who drifts a cross over the bar. This hasn’t really lived up to expectations.
40 min: Fernandinho picks up a booking for a wild tackle on Neymar. “Rather than looking like a popsicle Manchester City’s third kit looks like Yaya Toure’s cointreau birthday cake, that he never received, has been honoured in a final season guernsey,” says Raymond Reardon. “All sale proceeds to finance his next birthday party.”
39 min: Jeremy Mathieu replaces Gerard Pique. Barcelona have one change left and a makeshift defence.
38 min: Gerard Pique heads David Silva’s corner away but his evening is almost over. Jeremy Mathieu will be on soon. It needs to happen. Ilkay Gundogan dances around Pique’s non-challenge and finds himself with a clear sight of goal. He opens up his body and aims for the far corner with his right foot, but Ter Stegen denies him with an outstanding save. Moments later, Gundogan threatens again from 18 yards, but drags his shot wide.
37 min: De Bruyne escapes and reaches the byline on the right. There’s no one in the box to meet his cross. Moments later, Manchester City win the ball high and Barcelona are exposed. Silva feeds Nolito, whose angled shot hits Ter Stegen’s legs and goes behind for a corner.
Updated
35 min: Manchester City haven’t had a shot yet. This system isn’t working at the moment. David Silva has edged into the False Nine role now.
33 min: Pique is still limping but he wants to continue, telling the bench to wait before bringing on Jeremy Mathieu. “In dropping Aguero to the bench has Guardiola had his Brendan Rodgers moment, when he lost Gerrard’s respect after he was left out against Real?” says Ian Copestake. “Pep to Rangers?”
32 min: A free-kick to Barcelona on the left. Messi swings it in and Ivan “Andy Carroll” Rakitic races off his man and sends a free header high and wide. He should have hit the target.
31 min: No one closes Umtiti down and he’s able to rake an impressive ball over the top of the Manchester City defence. The offside trap flounders as Neymar hurtles clear but Bravo’s starting position is good and he gets there first, managing to make sure he doesn’t handle outside the box or foul the Brazilian.
29 min: Gerard Pique is struggling after a foul by notorious hatchet man David Silva, who’s been booked. The Spanish Karl Henry, they call him. The Barcelona man will try to run it off.
Updated
28 min: This remains quite an average game, shorn of tension, as though both sides already know they’re qualifying from this group but that Barcelona are just a bit better than Manchester City.
25 min: Pablo Zabaleta receives a lecture for a heavy foul on Neymar. “During the Lionel Messi goal, it looked like Ilkay Gundogan was marking the referee,” says Glenn Kuly. “But no worries Man City fans, the referee hasn’t scored yet.”
24 min: Poor Fernandinho. After slipping, all he could do was watch from the turf and bury his head in it when Messi scored.
23 min: “Our third kit is more tequila sunrise than half consumed popsicle,” Matt Collins says. “I actually bought my Norwich supporting friend their bus seat patterned third kit for his birthday recently, as to convince myself that ours isn’t quite the worst of the season.”
21 min: Manchester City are rocking now and Messi is really beginning to enjoy himself. Getting the ball off him is impossible at times. Even when he seems to have lost it, he keeps it, and so it proves in a duel with Fernandinho. He stabs a pass to the left for Neymar and it breaks back to him in the area. Eventually it runs to Suarez, who shoots into the side netting from an offside position. Briefly it seemed that Barcelona might be awarded a penalty when Messi fell. City got a free-kick instead.
19 min: Barcelona had been average until Messi’s goal, rarely threatening. But that’s what they can do to you. City need to keep their heads now.
GOAL! Barcelona 1-0 Manchester City (Messi, 17 min)
Lionel Messi 1-0 Pep Guardiola. Assuming that’s the way we’re spinning this. Out of nowhere, Barcelona lead. They’ve not been good, but they lead, and it’s thanks to the best player in the world. Of course, he started the move, an abrupt burst on the right catching City out. You knew they were in trouble as he cut inside and slid a pass into the area for Iniesta. From there, mind you, they benefited from a touch of fortune. Iniesta turned the ball into the middle but to no one in particular. Yet Fernandinho’s slip presented the ball to Messi, who had kept running, and he showed unsurprising composure, dribbling past Bravo before tapping into an empty net.
Updated
15 min: Nolito isolates Mascherano on the left but his end product is disappointing.
13 min: Barcelona aren’t out of first gear yet. “Suddenly I found myself craving a popsicle, not a common occurrence,” says Kari Tulinius. “I didn’t quite understand why until I saw a close up of City’s kit. Mind you, I kind of like it, but it does resemble a half consumed popsicle.”
11 min: Barcelona have barely strung two passes together. Out of nothing, though, Suarez suddenly bursts through the middle, City’s midfield bypassed by one pass. He moves it to Neymar on the left, but the Brazilian is stopped in his tracks by Otamendi.
9 min: It’s not Gerard Pique who’s going off, though, it’s Jordi Alba. Now Raheem Sterling will get to test himself against Lucas Digne.
8 min: Lucas Digne is standing and waiting on the touchline.
7 min: Gerard Pique appears to have injured himself. It might have occurred when he tried to stop De Bruyne’s cross a few minutes ago. Lucas Digne is getting ready.
6 min: Raheem Sterling has another run down the right. He takes on Alba again and gets his cross in, but nothing comes from it. City have started well.
5 min: Manchester City are trying to take the sting out of the occasion, allowing themselves a feel of the ball while Barcelona stand off them. They’ve started better. De Bruyne probes down the right and his cross is put behind by Mascherano for a corner. It’s wasted by Silva.
3 min: Raheem Sterling dashes down the right and exchanges a swift pair of passes with David Silva. He continues his run, scampering away from Jordi Alba, and slides a cross towards De Bruyne. It’s well read by Ter Stegen, though, and Barcelona deal with the danger.
Updated
2 min: Kevin de Bruyne is the highest attacker for Manchester City, while Javier Mascherano is at right-back for Barcelona.
Off we go! Manchester City, in their curious orange and purple away strip, get the game underway. They’re kicking from right to left in the first half.
Here come the teams! The game begins soon.
Pep Guardiola speaks. He is almost impossible to understand at times but he says that Sergio Aguero is not on the bench because of any injury. “I want more midfield players. We come here to try to win the game.”
Updated
It’s perfectly plausible that Aguero, who has a history of injuries, has a knock. I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough. I reckon it’s tactical, though. This is Guardiola. He’s seen something. Whether it works is another thing. “The neglected pair of Aguero and Sturridge would be quite a front two if someone would only play them,” says Ian Copestake. “Two non-pressing striking artistes available for really lazy teams.”
“Will Man City go for possession play or do you think Guardiola will be happy to let Barca have the ball?” says David Meatyard.
They might not have a choice.
Updated
This is the fourth time these two sides have met and Barcelona have won each time. Perhaps it’s worth Guardiola trying something different. This must be the first time that Aguero has been left out by City on tactical grounds, though.
Barcelona line up pretty much as expected, with Leo Messi deemed fit to start. But Manchester City’s Argentinian forward is on the bench and Pep Guardiola’s decision to leave out Sergio Aguero is causing quite a stir. I’ll leave it to you to work out what formation City will play - there are several systems possible – but it’s difficult to say that they’ve lined up defensively given the attacking players in their side. Perhaps Guardiola has reasoned that with Barcelona likely to have more of the ball at home, it would be tough for Aguero to get involved in the game. Visiting strikers can become isolated at this ground. Maybe Guardiola wants the extra creative dainty midfield type to help City achieve more control. It’s a huge call, though.
The teams!
Barcelona, with Messi: Ter Stegen; Umtiti, Mascherano, Pique, Alba; Busquets, Iniesta, Rakitic; Messi, Suarez, Neymar. Subs: Masip, Arda, Digne, Alcacer, Rafinha, Mathieu, Andre Gomes.
Manchester City, minus Aguero: Bravo; Zabaleta, Otamendi, Stones, Kolarov; Fernandinho; Sterling, Gundogan, Silva, Nolito; De Bruyne. Subs: Caballero, Fernando, Aguero, Maffeo, Clichy, Sane, Navas.
Sergio Aguero is on the bench tonight. I’ll have full team news in a minute.
The good news for Manchester City, who haven’t won their last three games in all competitions, is that Barcelona have been a little iffy at times this season. They’ve lost to Alaves at home and drawn with with Atletico Madrid, while they were downed by bogey team Celta Vigo again last week. The bad news for City is that it took Leo Messi 0.0000001 seconds to score on his return from a groin injury on the weekend. Will they have enough in defence to keep Barcelona’s front three quiet?
For Pep Guardiola, this is personal in more than one way. Not just because it’s his homecoming, but also because of the sense that there are certain types within the Camp Nou corridors who don’t wish him well. There’s been plenty of whispered scurrilous talk about Guardiola in the past year or so, verging on a smear campaign. He’s not been happy about it and used yesterday’s press conference to set the record straight about stories that he had tapped up Barcelona players in the summer. All very strange.
Not for the first time this week, we are greeted by a game that has been hyped to within an inch of its life. Hopefully we’ve all learnt our lesson after sitting through Liverpool v Manchester United on Monday night. Hopefully that was just a test to see how much you really love football. If you switched that game off early, you don’t deserve to watch this one, which, comfortingly, should be a belter. They’ve done a sweep of Camp Nou and can’t find any sign of Jose Mourinho.
Preamble
Hello. The last time Manchester City were in Barcelona, Pep Guardiola was watching from the stands, giggling uncontrollably with all the other punters as Leo Messi delivered a nutmeg masterclass at the expense of James Milner and Fernandinho. It was pure torture for City and only a spectacular goalkeeping performance from Joe Hart – expect another big performance from him tonight! Ha! – kept the score respectable. A few months later, however, Guardiola stood on the touchline for the first time as a visiting manager and discovered what it is like to be on the end of Messi’s magic, as the little Argentinian destroyed Bayern Munich with a brilliant double in Barcelona’s one-sided Champions League semi-final victory.
It’s the players, stupid. That’s been one of the theories ever since Guardiola left Barcelona, the criticism informed by his failure to reach a Champions League final during his three seasons with Bayern. Who is this guy without Messi, the critics wonder. A charlatan? A spoofer? A fraud? All reductive nonsense, of course. You only need to look at the impact he has had on City’s style of play during his short time in England to see how good he is (or you could look at everything he won at Barcelona or Bayern).
There is an inkling of a point here, mind you. If you were a club owner and were offered a choice of Luis Enrique or Pep Guardiola, it would be a no brainer, right? You’d pick Sam Allardyce. So would I. But you can’t have him, so it’s Luis Enrique or Pep Guardiola. Go on. Think about it. You don’t need long to think about it. You’d pick Pep. You’d ignore the fact that Luis Enrique’s Barcelona thumped Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich last year. Luis Enrique’s Barcelona might thump Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City tonight. You’d still pick Pep tomorrow.
Here’s the dilemma for Guardiola, then. We’re all expecting a great game tonight, given that Guardiola is unlikely to betray his beliefs and opt for containment, and an great game is likely to end with a Barcelona victory. City have Aguero, Silva and De Bruyne, all of them wonderful players, but Barcelona have Messi, Suarez and Neymar, era-defining players. Barcelona have Andres Iniesta. Both managers are promising an open, flowing, fun game. Guardiola is no deluded artist; he is not a man who will place style over substance. He wants to win – but it remains to be seen whether his managerial brilliance can overcome Messi’s individual genius. It promises to be a fascinating duel.
Kick-off: 7.45pm BST, 8.45pm in Barcelona.
Updated
