Manchester City slumped to a shock 1-0 defeat at Burnley at the weekend to leave themselves trailing Chelsea by six points. The London club still have a game in hand, although neither side have been impressive in recent weeks. Arsenal, Man United and Liverpool have all gained ground and are now breathing down City’s neck in the race for Champions League qualification next season.
Chelsea were knocked out of the Champions League by PSG on away goals last week and City could follow them out of the exit door when they face Barcelona on Wednesday night. City lost the home leg 2-1 but it could easily have been much worse. Gael Clichy’s red card left them a man short for the third successive time against the Spaniards and a third goal looked inevitable. Joe Hart saved Lionel Messi’s penalty but the Argentine should still have put away the rebound.
3-1 would have left City on the brink but they have been given a lifeline and will surely adopt a more positive approach this time. Rather like Chelsea against PSG, City appeared to be almost paralysed by fear and were spectators for much of the game as Barcelona ran rings around them. If the same City turns up on Wednesday, they will surely be well beaten. The home side have Suarez, Messi and Neymar in their line-up, all eager to get on the score sheet.
With the possible exceptions of Aguero and Silva, City’s star players have fallen short in recent months and they are running out of opportunities. I fear that City’s season could get worse before it starts to get better.
The night’s other tie looks a good deal less one-sided with Juventus holding a 2-1 lead against Borussia Dortmund. The Italians were not particularly impressive in Turin and the Germans grabbed a vital away goal. They know that a 1-0 win would be sufficient to go into the last eight but I cannot quite see them holding out for 90 minutes.
Former Premiership striker Carlos Tevez has scored 21 goals this season and Paul Pogba is apparently being pursued by Manchester United and Chelsea. They will miss the experience of Andrea Pirlo in midfield due to injury but could just sneak a draw and go through.
Borussia Dortmund v Juventus DRAW @5-2 Boylesports
Borussia Dortmund 1 Juventus 1 @6-1 Paddy Power
Barcelona 3 Man City 0 @21-2 BetVictor
Lionel Messi to score and Barcelona win @4-5 SkyBet
Luis Suarez to score and Barcelona win @6-4 Ladbrokes
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Betway:
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Coral:
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