Line-up confirmed / Alineació confirmada / Alineación confirmada:
Official line-up for tonight's game against Manchester City
Line-up confirmed / Alineació confirmada / Alineación confirmada:
Everything you need to know about FC Barcelona v Manchester City
Catch up on all the news in the lead-up to this evening’s match at the Camp Nou between the Catalan and English giants
Press conferences from Tata Martino and Javier Mascherano
Where and when to watch Barça – Manchester City
23 players called up for the match against Manchester City
Barça and City aim to keep clean sheets
Touré Yaya, the latest to return to the Camp Nou
Xavi: “Esperàvem un City amb més pilota”
Sergio Agüero: 4 goals in 11 games against Barça
Barça-City, three weeks later: how they come into the match at the Camp Nou
Leo Messi is a sharpshooter in the first knock-out round of the Champions League
Magical night for Barcelona-based City fans
Magical night for Barcelona-based City fans
Match preview: FC Barcelona – Manchester City FC: It's time to focus on the Champions League
FC Barcelona will leave La Liga to one side and try to make good on the 0-2 from the first leg against Manchester City
City need two goals to force overtime and three to directly access the quarter-finals of the competition
FC Barcelona will play the most important match of the season this Wednesday evening. Barça will host Manchester City at the Camp Nou for the second leg of the Champions League knock-out round at 3:45 EST; 8:45 PM CET. The 0-2 from the first leg is an important advantage, but it’s better to not focus too much on that result and go into this evening’s game as if it were 0-0.
One of challenges the team face is to leave behind the negative results from league play. The 0-1 away to Valladolid, which left Barça four points adrift of the top spot in the league, should be left behinf as the team come into the match at the Camp Nou. It’s time to change the chip, as they say in Catalonia and Spain.
In order to receive Manchester City, Gerardo Martino has called up 23 footballers to the team. All available players, besides Isaac Cuenca and Jonathan Dos Santos – who are injured – made the team. The manager must cut five players from the squad before kick off.
The British team come into the match at the Camp Nou with the obligation of trying to fight back from the 0-2 deficit from the first leg. They need two goals to force overtime and three if they want to mount a convincing comeback and qualify directly for the quarter finals of the competition.
The morale level of the Citizens is similar to Barça’s: Wigan booted Pellegrini’s team from the FA Cup (1-2) while Barça have lost two of its three league fixtures in the last three weeks.
Final training session before facing Man City
The 23 players picked by Tata Martino worked out this Wednesday morning in the Camp Nou
Nine hours before the Champions League game with Manchester City kicks off, the first team have trained in the match venue, the Camp Nou. Tata Martino went over the final details with the 23 players he has picked, although this evening he going to have to drop five names from the list.
After the session, the players went to Hotel Princesa Sofía, where they already spent the night. They will be heading back to the stadium at around 7.00 PM CET.
Azulgrana RoundUp, March 2-9 – Homage to Carles Puyol
After the captain’s decision to leave FC Barcelona was announced this week, team-mates, managers, the media and fans rallied to show their support to the outgoing center back
Saying that the 2014/15 season will be different is an understatement. This week Carles Puyol made a surprise announcement that he’d be hanging up the Blaugrana strip at the end of the season. The reaction to the captain’s decision was as widespread as it was sincere.
“They can look all they want, but they’ll never find the new Puyol”
After Puyol’s midweek press conference, Gerard Piqué penned an open letter to his captain. The message is as follows:
You were my guardian angel.
The day has arrived. You are leaving. It’s the law of life, but it is tough for me to imagine Barça without you. If I look back and remember Paris or Rome, the first image that comes to my mind is you lifting the European Cup. You gave the honour of lifting the trophy in Wembley to Abi, which just makes you even greater. My generation and those that come after do not know what the club will be like without Puyi in defence branding the captain’s armband and the number 5 on the back of his shirt. I think that nothing will ever be the same.
I met you 6 years ago. You were the captain and the emblem of the team and I was just a kid arriving, set on conquering the world. From day one we had a great relationship, both on and off the field. By your side I felt protected and I knew that if one day I made a mistake you’d always be there to save me. You were my guardian angel.
I know that I will miss our talks in the locker room, your advice and especially you giving us hell on the pitch. You are unique; a one-off. I find it amusing when they talk about signing “the new Puyol”. They can look all they want, but they’ll never find it.
Thanks for everything, Puyi.
Puyol’s departure makes waves on the internet
In addition to the outpouring of support from current team-mates and Club directors, Puyol has also received plaudits from the media, fans and former managers and players. The following is a selection of some of the more noteworthy pieces written about the center back:
- Sid Lowe’s Peerless Puyol departs Barça on his own terms
- Guillem Balague’s Talismanic Carles Puyol Was the Heart and Soul of Barcelona’s Golden Era
- Fancesc Tomás’ An open letter to Carles Puyol
- Johan Cryuff’s video message to Puyol
- r/Barça’s Puyol Homage Thread
- Robert Curtis and totalBarça staff’s The view from our seat: Carles Puyol
Touré is coming back to play at the Camp Nou on Wednesday. Here are the last ex-players who came back to play as rivals
The Ivory Coast star is back in Barcelona three and a half seasons after he left the Club
Ronaldinho, Eto’o, Ibrahimovic, and Villa are some of the latest most charismatic former players who came back to the Camp Nou com as rivals
Touré Yayá is coming back to the Camp Nou this Wednesday, three and a half seasons after his last game in a Barça shirt, the Barça v Valladolid game that sealed the League Title in the 2009/10 season. Touré, one of the main Manchester City stars, played three seasons for FC Barcelona (2007-10), and won two League Titles, one Champions League, one Spanish Cup, one World Club Cup, one European Supercup, and one Spanish Supercup.
Touré Yaya’s visit to the Camp Nou is just another return of a charismatic former Barça player. In 2009, 5 years ago, Samuel Eto’o returned, just a few months after winning the Champions League in Rome. He did it wearing an Inter Milan shirt, and was giving a great reception from the Barça crowd.
A year later, in the Joan Gamper Trophy match, it was Ronaldinho who came to the Camp Nou as a rival. The Brazilian, then with AC Milan, was also given a great reception by the Barça fans.
In 2012 it was the return of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swedish player, a Barça player for one season, came back to the Camp Nou for the return leg of the Champions League quarter-final of the 2012/13 season, as an AC Milan player. On that day Maxi López also played the final minutes of the game.
A similar case was that of Bojan Krkic, who also came back to the Camp Nou as a player on loan to AC Milan. It was on the 12th of March 2013, when FC Barcelona turned around the result of the first leg of the Champions league last 16, with an unforgettable 4-0 scoreline. Bojan played the last 15 minutes of that match.
The last charismatic former Barça player to come back to the Camp Nou was David Villa. Villa, now at Atlético Madrid, came back to the stadium for the return leg of the Spanish Supercup. Just like all the others, he left Barcelona having been unable to beat his former team.
