Lionel Messi & Dani Alves on target after Demichelis red card
Against Barcelona, the hardest lesson every opponent learns is that what comes to define their performance are the few precious seconds when their concentration slips, the gaps open up and those famous striped shirts swarm through, like raiders at the castle gate.
It was in those few moments of weakness, when Manchester City allowed themselves to be found off-guard and badly mismatched in defence, that the balance of the tie shifted. This current Barcelona team, like its modern predecessors, is a pitiless opponent and, as is their way, they seized upon City’s biggest error of the night and punished them severely.
It was Lionel Messi who drew the foul that saw Martin Demichelis sent off on 53 minutes, and it was Messi who dispatched the penalty, and although there was no doubt that contact began outside the box it continued inside. In most other respects, the Argentine was corralled and controlled by City, even subsequent to the goal and with just ten men on the field. But almost-good-enough is never enough against a side this ruthless.
That City managed to keep the scoreline at just one goal for so long was an achievement, given that Messi and his men had more than half an hour potentially to put the tie out of sight, but the second was a dire outcome for City. They had made it all the way to the last minute of normal time when Dani Alves scored the goal that surely puts this tie out of reach for them at the Nou Camp in three weeks’ time.
What followed from Manuel Pellegrini was nothing short of an evisceration of the Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson that compared with the most serious attacks on an official’s integrity in memory. He claimed that Eriksson was “not impartial”, and that in a number of decisions had been trying to compensate for mistakes he had made that had left Barcelona shortchanged in a tie against Milan two seasons ago.
For a man who has previously resisted the kind of manic outbursts to which so many of his managerial peers have succumbed, this was a pretty extraordinary performance. At one point Pellegrini even suggested that Eriksson was unsuitable to take charge of the game because he is Swedish, although he failed to explain why this might be the case. There is no question that he will be charged by Uefa, and that the punishment could be severe.
It created a sense of desperation and futility about City that was unnecessary. They might have let the tie slip away but there was no need for Pellegrini to toss away the dignity he has maintained this season with an embarrassing attack on the referee.
One of his main complaints was a foul on Jesus Navas in the build-up to the penalty for Barcelona which was, at best, debatable. Yet he seemed not to understand the point that while Demichelis’ contact on Messi began outside the box, if it continues into the area the referee has the discretion to give it.
t had been a difficult night, although one in which City had their moments, as Gerardo Martino later conceded. For the first 20 minutes, Barcelona gave their opponents the kind of examination that only Barcelona can. When they keep the ball in that fashion, it behoves the opposition to hold their nerve, stay tight and attempt to keep the Barca shirts a safe distance from the goal.
City did that, and they did it well. The temptation must be to panic when such long periods pass without a decent spell of possession; when the rare successful tackles just seem to give the ball back. This is Barcelona’s greatest trick, keeping the passes ticking over while they decide where the other side’s weak spot is located. But City were ready for it, and they handled it as best as could be expected. For that period of possession, City did not permit a decent strike on goal from Messi, Xavi or anyone else for that matter. There were efforts later in the first half, the best from Xavi that forced a fine save from Joe Hart, but the best chances came for the home side. The final Uefa stats for completed passes were 753 to 325 in Barcelona’s favour, but that was only part of the story. reaching 192 for four. Hashim Amla returned to form with a sparkling innings of 93 not out.
But South Africa will be without left-arm fast-medium bowler Wayne Parnell when they attempt to bowl