Which team would you put your money on to qualify? Manchester City swap Burnley for Barcelona on Wednesday night needing to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit to book their place in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Manuel Pellegrini's men were beaten 1-0 at Turf Moor in the Premier
League on Saturday - their third defeat in four matches in all
competitions - and now face an even sterner away trip.
That
poor run of form started with the home loss against Barca and, with
English sides having won just once in 28 visits to Camp Nou, Pellegrini
has been keen to play down the significance of a defeat against the Liga
leaders.
"Manchester United in all of that great era under
[Alex] Ferguson only won two Champions Leagues," he said. "Real Madrid
went 32 years without winning the European Cup.
"It is important to be there in the later rounds but you can't think that not being there is a disaster."
After falling behind to two goals from Luis Suarez at the Etihad
Stadium, City pulled one back through Sergio Aguero only to have Gael
Clichy sent off five minutes later. A stoppage time penalty miss from
Lionel Messi, though, kept City's slim hopes alive.
"You can
talk about tactics and technique but if you go a man down against
Barcelona, you're put in a terrible position," continued the Chilean
coach. "It is not a disgrace to get knocked out by them.
"Their
squad, if it is not the best in the world, it is the second best. No
other team can put together Leo Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez but I want
to play them with 11 and if they knock us out then let that be because
they were better than us."
Barcelona, meanwhile, face a pivotal
week in their season, with the visit of Clasico rivals Real Madrid,
currently one points adrift in La Liga, to look forward to just four
days after hosting City.
But speaking earlier this week, coach
Luis Enrique said: "This will be a very nice week with two games in
front of our fans, but it is not the most important.
"We're
going into the Clasico as leaders and in perfect form. But first we have
to focus on City because qualification is at stake. Then we'll see what
happens at the weekend."
City lost 2-0 at Camp Nou as they
fell to a 4-1 aggregate defeat at the same stage last season, and have
never made it to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Barcelona's Martin Montoya sustained a fractured cheekbone in a 2-0 win
at Eibar on Saturday, while Sergio Busquets (ankle) missed training this
week.
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