Barcelona vs. Manchester City: City Must Dominate Midfield to Upset at Camp Nou

If Manchester City are to have any chance of defeating Barcelona in Spain, it will start with their ability to physically dominate play at the center of the pitch.

City's shocking 2-0 home defeat to Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League tie leaves them with the unenviable task of mounting a major comeback at the Camp Nou. 

Fernandinho did show confidence in his team's ability to throw Barcelona off of their game, via Fernando Duarte of The Guardian:

"

We [City] had them [the Catalan side] worried. We managed to put them under pressure and there were situations in which the Barcelona guys didn't feel confident to try to use their passing game. They were rattling the ball to where their noses were pointing. We rattled them.

"

In fact, the Catalan giants are stuck in a rut that dates back to just a couple weeks after they defeated Manchester City.

Barcelona has managed just 10 points from their last six league games, well below their usual standards and a far cry from the form they found themselves in when they defeated the Blues in Manchester last month.

Manchester City can cause disruption in the midfield without necessarily outright winning the possession battle. That particular statistic is something this current iteration of Barcelona will dominate until the end of time.

Team	Possession	Avg. Pass Accuracy	Chances Created	Shot Accuracy	Goals Scored
Barcelona	62%	91%	79	53%	18
Manchester City	50%	84%	75	51%	18

As you can see in the table above, Manchester City falls well behind Barcelona in key categories such as possession and pass accuracy. However, they seem to be able to do just as much goal-scoring business with less of the ball, as both teams have 18 goals in the Champions League so far this year.

Rather than fall under the spell of the metronomic interplay between Messi, Xavi and the rest, Manchester City can use their impressive size and speed to disrupt the neat passing angles so desired by the Catalan squad.

Yaya Toure and Fernandinho will be key to City's efforts to break down Barcelona and keep them from dictating the tempo of the game.

Toure dwarfs any Barcelona midfielder in size and can use his physicality to his advantage, not to mention his familiarity with squad (he left Barcelona in 2011). He averages just 1.7 tackles per game for City, but can definitely step up his aggressiveness when called upon.

Toure leads Manchester City with 4.8 accurate long balls per game. If City can press to their advantage and get the ball to Toure or playmaker David Silva, they can hopefully set up some quick-strike opportunities against Barcelona.

The ability to make crushing tackles is the key statistic for the enforcer Fernandinho:

"

.@fernaoficial: Has made more tackles (29) than any other player in the CL this season #MCFC #UCL

— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 12, 2014"

He also managed to score a blistering goal for Brazil last week while on international duty.

Any long-range efforts like that would certainly surprise Barcelona and keep them off their toes.

The perception is that La Liga teams prefer fluid games with minimal contact, and Manchester City certainly have the ruggedness in midfield to press Barcelona and reinforce that particular stereotype.

The best players to pressure for Manchester City will be the Barcelona's wide midfielders. Neymar and Alexis Sanchez lead Barcelona with 1.7 and 1.2 turnovers per game, respectively. This puts the pressure on Jesus Navas to press for City, while Toure, Garcia and company (or even Kompany) prevent the masters of keep away, Xavi and Iniesta, from receiving the ball in dangerous positions.

However, if the game settles into a languid pace with Barcelona controlling the ball for huge swaths of time, the Blues will find it difficult to get the minimum two goals they need in order to advance to the next round.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

The recent return of Sergio Aguero to the Blues lineup also bodes well for City's chances should they win their key battles in the midfield. Aguero has been sidelined by injuries this season, but has been rampant when on the pitch with 30 goals in 30 appearances this season in all competitions.

He does a great job of making every shot attempt count as well, as he has put 60 percent of his shots on target in the Champions League.

Aguero is a precise, lethal striker who doesn't need a huge volume of shots and touches to make a huge impact on the game. Get him in front of the six-yard box with some accurate crosses or a good long ball, and Aguero can finish things off for City and get Barcelona reeling.

Relying on Aguero's capabilities as a lone striker would allow for Manchester City to bring another player into the midfield to help put pressure on Barcelona. James Milner or David Silva—both of whom came off the bench against Wigan—could start the match alongside Toure, Samir Nasri and Javi Garcia in the Manchester midfield.

Whatever route Manchester City takes to get the ball into the back of Barcelona's net, it will require a great deal of cohesion and strength. By working from the middle of the pitch out, City can get Barca off of their game early and hopefully steal an early goal.

You can never say to no to a team as good as the Blues, even at Camp Nou.

All advanced statistics used in this article (unless otherwise noted) are courtesy of whoscored.com.