LETHAL LEO PUNISHES PEP’S CITY SLICKERS IN NOU CAMP DEMOLITION JOB
AFTER the second of Lionel Messi’s three goals went in, Pep Guardiola ran his hand anxiously across the top of his head. The Manchester City manager looked like a man who was watching his house burn down, fully aware that it was he who had left the toaster on.
This, for all Messi’s enduring brilliance, was defeat by managerial error.
City, as Guardiola had hoped, proved a match for Barcelona at times. It seems strange to say given the score but City began both halves the better side and they created several clear chances.
Ultimately, though, Guardiola’s decisions cost City.
Sergio Aguero was not selected. Guardiola explained he wanted strength in his midfield but City still needed a centre forward, still needed their best player. As a result of his exclusion, his team lacked the expertise when their chances arrived. Was Guardiola guilty of being too clever for his own good here? Perhaps.
And what now of the former Barcelona manager’s decision to jettison Joe Hart in August? Claudio Bravo, a goalkeeper selected for his expertise with his feet, did what he has done consistently since arriving in Manchester. He made a mistake with his feet.
In presenting the ball to Luis Suarez in the 53rd minute, Bravo was forced to save the resulting shot and was sent off for handling outside the penalty area.
It was a horror moment and it sank City. Already a goal down to Messi’s early strike, City were well in the game at that moment but within eight minutes of Bravo’s exit Messi scored again. Another eight minutes later, he made it three.
A contest had become a walkover in quarter of an hour and Guardiola’s return to his home had become an exercise in self-destruction.
Reflecting on Bravo’s red card, Guardiola said: ‘I spoke with him. He was disappointed but it’s part of the game.
‘At that level it is hard, but until 10 against 11 it was open and we were competing against a team with a big personality. But after the red card it was over.
‘Every game since Celtic has been the same, against Everton it was the same, with an own goal and two missed penalties. We need to change the atmosphere.
‘We were there, we were in the game. We were pressing, we had the possession and we made the chances. We did it but we didn’t take the chances and you have to do that to win the game.’
Guardiola had said he would ask his team to match Barcelona for possession. It was ambitious but for a short while it worked.
Early in the game, the right-hand side looked as though it might be productive for City. On a couple of occasions, Raheem Sterling ran into just enough space to deliver a cross, while a move down the other flank in the ninth minute saw David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne combine to find Nolito in the penalty area. Briefly, the Spaniard had a little space but he couldn’t use it to engineer a shot at goal.
Messi had endured a poor start but nobody was surprised to see him spring to life to nudge Barcelona in front.
He began the move down the right, inviting a couple of reckless challenges, yet there seemed little danger as he scuttled into the box to seek a return pass from Andres Iniesta. But when the ball bounced loose from Pablo Zabaleta’s challenge, Fernandinho slipped over on the slick turf, Nicolas Otamendi was caught on his heels and Messi picked up possession, rounded Bravo and scored.
Encouraged by the goal, Barcelona’s dangerous players came to life and City struggled to cope as Suarez and Neymar began to create angles with Messi and Iniesta.
Samuel Umtiti headed a corner wide when unmarked in the 51st minute before Bravo’s aberration a couple of minutes later. It was a horror moment for the former Barcelona goalkeeper.
Still, the contribution of Suarez is worth noting. In chasing down what seemed a lost cause, he prevented Bravo taking a touch to control the ball. This, in turn, led to the dreadful error and the red card that ended the contest.
Barcelona didn’t score from the free-kick but were two ahead just after the hour. Messi turned inside Aleksandar Kolarov to net from the edge of the box with his left foot.
Their third was another gift. Ilkay Gundogan, hitherto impressive, sent Suarez clear with a misplaced pass in the 68th minute and the Uruguayan squared for Messi to roll his hat-trick goal into an empty net.
Numbers were evened up when Barca substitute Jeremy Mathieu was given a second yellow card for a foul on Sterling but things didn’t improve for City.
Neymar took an awful penalty, allowing Willy Caballero to save, after Messi drew a scything foul from Kolarov in the 86th minute.
But there was still time for the Brazilian to embarrass Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones en route to scoring the fourth a couple of minutes later.