Manchester City’s match against Barcelona on Tuesday night was so good that fans of the Etihad club may well have thrown away their simmering antipathy toward the Champions League.
Barcelona were all over Manchester City when they went 1-0 ahead and probably deserved to have added another during that spell, but they didn’t and Manchester City kept the faith.
Coming back to win 3-1 convincingly in the end, it was a wonderful night for Manchester City, but not so great for Barcelona. It’s no disaster for the Catalan club, they’re still top of the group, but losing 3-1 after going 1-0 ahead isn’t great.
Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo have the word ‘Blackout’ on their Wednesday front page. In coverage of the match which goes on for the newspaper’s first 22 pages, it’s said repeatedly that the initial fault for the turnaround lies with Sergi Roberto.
Whilst Mundo Deportivo say referee Viktor Kassai wasn’t responsible for the defeat to Pep Guardiola’s new team, they do say he ‘influenced the final result’ after a Sergio Aguero handball ‘assist’ was missed.
The newspaper’s player ratings are clearly in favour of Manchester City, but it looks like they weren’t impressed with John Stones and, surprisingly, Raheem Sterling.
Sport, the other Catalan daily, have their first 20 pages dedicated to the match.
They say Barcelona have a ‘black hole’, explaining that many of the goals the club have conceded recently have come as the result of turnovers of possession, and the same happened at the Etihad against Manchester City.
It’s stated the the game was ‘possibly the best match that can be seen on a football pitch today’. Barcelona beating Manchester City 4-0 at the Camp Nou was good, but the Etihad match ‘even more spectacular’.
The player ratings from Sport seemed more even.
AS is more Madrid leaning so chooses to focus on Atletico Madrid winning and look ahead to Real Madrid’s match, rather than concentrate on Manchester City.
The match is of course covered and AS believe Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne were excellent.
Like the other reports, it’s pointed out that Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets had a stinker, and wasn’t up to his best standards.
Marca are also more Madrid leaning, but still manage to have 7 pages on the Manchester City match.
It’s called ‘the revenge of Guardiola’ after the match in Spain, and they reckon ‘City celebrated as if it were a title’.
The most highly rated Manchester City players for Marca were Gundogan, De Bruyne, and also Sergio Aguero, whilst 5 Barcelona stars received a – mark.
All in all, the coverage of Manchester City in Spain on Wednesday is of course very positive, and Pep Guardiola and his team are doing a lot to underline the club’s aim to become a real super power.
