We have played so many classics over the years. It's very hard for us to recollect all of those. It is in fact one of the major reasons why I started this blog in the first place. In the recent memory, Arsenal 2 - Barcelona 2 (2010) should be right up there as one of the best matches Barca played(Especially First half) in the last decade. But people shrug  off and say "It's the scoreline that matters" and hardly anyone remember that classic. Any decent football fan will know that Barca were totally head and shoulders above Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in 2012, but hmm,hmm scoreline matters. Fast forward 5 years and we get yesterday's match. Probably one of the best first half performance in an away game after years, but it hardly reflected in the scoreline. But, but the reaction aftermath of this result was different. After  all those missed chances, Messi missing penalty and the open goal in a most hilarious fashion, the English press and whole of the footballing world were wise enough to notice one thing, that is : Barcelona play football out of this world.

Here are some of the excerpts from the English press.

There was a moment in the first half here, midway through a period of dreamy high-speed Barcelona possession, when Manchester City might have considered briefly stepping across the hoardings and taking a seat in the front row of the crowd.

The dominant memory though will be that first-half spell during which the champions of England were not just outplayed but presented with a team playing an entirely different kind of game altogether.


Okay, I must confess one thing. The above paragraph was written after the first leg which I couldn't complete  for many reasons. Read it again. It fits perfectly. AGAIN. Just like at Ethihad, we were simply too good for Manchester City and 1-0 scoreline doesn't do justice at all. In fact, the 3-1 agg loss flatters ManCity.

Anyone who is following football over the years know that it is almost impossible to win at Camp Nou, let alone overturn the first leg defeat in the champions league Quarter finals. Pellegrini had clearly stated that his side will go there and play football. As he believes that BIG club should play like BIG club( It was aimed at Mourinho and Chelsea, *Grins*. Obviously). So, the approach was clear for them. Pellegrini started with 5 midfielders to gain control of the midfield which didn't happen as they failed to put three passes together. Barca, on the other side love open game. Messi, Neymar, Suarez, Iniesta and Rakitic had acres of space to exploit. The passing sequence of our side was so precise and pacy that it made Mancity squad look like 40+  team.

The first chance of the match came in the first ten minutes. Messi started the attack from right, drifted inside, which created havoc near their box. Vincent Kompany tried to clear the ball,  but Neymar snatched the ball from the captain and had a shot which almost went in. Post came to the rescue. So, we didn't stop there, we went again. This time, it was Suarez, who was one on one versus Sagna which looked like one on none. He glided past him and shot at Joe Hart(First of many). Though the score was 0-0. we were loving it. At times, I asked myself whether we are playing against Arsenal or Manchester City.

Messi, on the other hand had absolute fun yesterday. I have never seen such a performance by our magician in recent seasons. He made fun of almost every city player over the two legs. The below video says it all.