FC Barcelona v Manchester City Betting Tips

In amongst the inevitable media stories about Pep Guardiola, there should actually be quite a good football match on Wednesday night with Guardiola’s Manchester City side facing his former team Barcelona.

Under Pep Guardiola, Barcelona became arguably the greatest club side in footballing history as they clinched a number of trophies, both domestic and continental. Current boss Luis Enrique has overseen a transition in Cataluña with his side being a lot more direct with their South American front three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar as opposed to the tika-taka football employed by Guardiola.

Unsurprisingly, the 2015/16 La Liga champions top Group C and are almost certain to go through to the knockout phase. They did of course thrash Celtic 7-0 at the Nou Camp in the opening round of fixtures, but had to come from 1-0 down to beat German side Borussia Monchengladbach in their last Champions League match.

However, in the league, things are not quite going to plan with Barca currently sitting fourth and only ahead of fifth place Villarreal on goal difference. Home form has been somewhat rocky in recent weeks with four points taken from a possible nine. Although they faced Atletico Madrid in that time, they suffered a shock loss to Deportivo Alaves.

Having said that, their Champions League form at the Nou Camp over the last couple of years has been stupendous. They last failed to win a European game at home back in April 2014.

Despite being a bit wobbly in the league, you would expect them to do the job against Manchester City.

The previously mentioned front three of Messi, Suarez and Neymar is undoubtedly the best on the planet and will go down as one of the best in history. For punters it is just a matter of deciding who is the most likely to score out of the three on Wednesday night.

Argentine Lionel Messi is the obvious choice, however, he has only played 35 minutes in the last four games due to injury – of course he scored during those 35 minutes against Deportivo La Coruna.

One of his striker partners, Luis Suarez, has once again been in fine form for Barca and has nine goals in 11 appearances this season. Additionally, the former Liverpool man has a decent record against Manchester City and has scored three goals in eight matches against them. I would certainly look at putting him in a goalscorer double bet with the aforementioned Lionel Messi.

Neymar is often called a show pony and you can see why with his style of play. However, there is no denying that he has been in fabulous form for Barcelona with five goals in eight matches. The Brazilian has a 100% record against City and has one goal in his four appearances against them.

It is a tough choice between Neymar and Messi but I have to go with the latter. You really would be a fool not to back arguably the greatest player of all time (who actually has a good record against City with two goals in four matches) when you can get odds of 11/5 if you add Suarez into the mix.

Pep Guardiola has played down any emotional attachment to this fixture against Barcelona. He says that it was an emotional occasion when he faced them as Bayern Munich manager, however, with this being his second time facing his old club, he seems to be less phased by it.

Manchester City have hit a rocky patch of late. Firstly they could only draw against the weakest team in their Champions League group, Celtic, before suffering defeat against Tottenham in the league followed by a draw at home to Everton.

Although I backed City in that match against Everton, I did mention how they had only done so well against the weaker sides in the Premier League. Following this poor run against more established sides, I feel I have been proved right and think it is fair to say that the adulation and constant praise previously lavished on the Spaniard was very premature.

Whilst nobody would disagree that the Citizens are a frightening team going forward, they undoubtedly have problems at the back – proved by the fact they have not kept a clean sheet in their last five matches in all competitions, letting in eight goals in the process. When you are facing the best front line in world football, that is not the sort of record you want.

I can only see a Barcelona win here, mainly because of the chasm in class between Barca’s attack and City’s defence. The home side should win by a margin of at least two and you can be on that bet at 11/10.

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