Josep Guardiola returns to the club with
whom
he lifted the European Cup as both player and
coach when his Manchester City side visit
Barcelona on matchday three.
©AFP/Getty Images
Josep Guardiola returns to the club where he
made his name when Manchester City FC visit
FC Barcelona on matchday three.
• This meeting of the top two in Group C will
take several other Barcelona old boys back to
their former club – director of football Txiki
Begiristain, goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, winger
Nolito, and assistant coach Mikel Arteta.
Previous meetings
• The clubs met for the first time in a
competitive fixture in the 2013/14 round of
16. Barcelona won 2-0 in England with Lionel
Messi (pen) and Daniel Alves scoring, and that
pair struck again in a 2-1 victory back at the
Camp Nou, either side of Vincent Kompany's
goal. In both games City had a man sent off –
Martín Demichelis, then Pablo Zabaleta.
• The line-ups in Barcelona on 12 March 2014
were:
Barcelona: Valdés, Alves, Piqué, Mascherano,
Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Fàbregas (Sergi Roberto
86), Neymar (Alexis Sánchez 80), Messi,
Iniesta.
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany,
Lescott, Kolarov, Y Touré, Fernandinho, Nasri
(Navas 75), Silva (Negredo 72), Milner, Agüero
(Džeko 46).
• Barcelona prevailed again at the same stage
in 2014/15. In Manchester, Luis Suárez scored
twice in a 2-1 win in which Sergio Agüero also
found the net, Gaël Clichy was sent off, and
Messi had a last-minute penalty saved by Joe
Hart. Back in Barcelona, Ivan Rakitić got the
only goal and Marc-André ter Stegen saved an
Agüero spot kick.
• The line-ups at the Camp Nou on 18 March
2015 were:
Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Alves (Adriano 90+1),
Piqué, Mathieu, Alba, Rakitić (Rafinha 84),
Mascherano, Iniesta, Messi, Suárez, Neymar.
Man. City: Hart, Sagna, Kompany, Demichelis,
Kolarov, Nasri (Navas 46), Y Touré (Bony 72),
Fernandinho, Milner (Lampard 87), Silva,
Agüero.
• Zabaleta is City's only survivor from the 1-0
friendly win at Barcelona in August 2009.
Match background
Barcelona
• Barcelona are seeking a third Group C
victory
after beating Celtic FC 7-0 and VfL Borussia
Mönchengladbach 2-1 .
• The Celtic result made it 12 home UEFA
Champions League wins in a row. Overall
Barcelona are unbeaten in 17 matches at
home
in the competition since September 2013
(W16, D1).
• Barcelona's last encounter with Premier
League opposition came against Arsenal FC in
last season's round of 16: 2-0 (a) , 3-1 (h) .
• Their overall home record against English
clubs is W18 D11 L2.
Manchester City
• City followed up an opening 4-0 win over
Mönchengladbach by drawing 3-3 at Celtic on
matchday two.
• The Premier League club had mixed fortunes
in Spain last season. They won 3-1 at Sevilla
FC
in the group stage – with Raheem Sterling and
Fernandinho among the scorers – but lost 1-0
at Real Madrid CF in the semi-finals.
• City's overall away record against Spanish
sides is W2 D1 L6.
Club and player links
• This is Guardiola's second return to the
Camp
Nou as a coach, following a 3-0 defeat with
FC
Bayern Munchen in the 2014/15 UEFA
Champions League semi-finals.
• Between 2008 and 2012, Guardiola amassed
14 trophies as Barcelona coach, including the
UEFA Champions League in 2009 and 2011
and
three successive Liga titles (2009–11).
• As a Barça player, Guardiola landed six
league titles as well as the club's first
European
Cup in 1992 . He made 263 appearances
between 1991 and 2000, also featuring in their
1997 European Cup Winners' Cup final
success
– alongside Luis Enrique – and the 1992
UEFA
Super Cup victory.
• City's director of football, Begiristain, filled
the same role at Barcelona between 2003 and
2010. He was previously a member of the
Blaugrana's 1992 European Cup-winning
squad
and also won four Liga titles, the Cup
Winners'
Cup and UEFA Super Cup.
• Luis Enrique scored on three separate UEFA
Champions League trips to England as a
Barcelona player – in a 3-2 defeat at
Newcastle United FC (1997/98 group stage);
a
3-3 draw at Manchester United FC (1998/99
first group stage); and a 4-2 win at Arsenal
FC
(1999/2000 first group stage).
• Bravo made 75 appearances for Barcelona
between 2014 and 2016, but did not appear in
any of their UEFA Champions League matches.
• Bravo was captain of the Chile side that beat
Messi and Javier Mascherano's Argentina 4-2
on penalties in the 2016 Copa América final.
Messi hit his penalty over the crossbar.
• At Barcelona (2008–11), Nolito played under
Luis Enrique for Barcelona B. He made five
league and cup appearances for the senior
side, scoring in a 5-1 Copa del Rey victory
over AD Ceuta.
• Nolito provided the assist for the only goal
when RC Celta de Vigo recorded their first-ever
win at Barcelona in November 2014. In
September 2015 he scored in Celta's 4-1
home
Liga win over the Catalan club.
• City assisant coach Mikel Arteta began his
career in Barcelona's youth academy before
leaving for Paris Saint-Germain aged 18.
• As a teenager at City, Denis Suárez made
two
first-team appearances in English League Cup
ties (v Wolverhampton Wanders FC in October
2011, v Aston Villa FC in September 2012).
• Ivan Rakitić was in the FC Schalke 04 side
beaten 2-0 at home by a City team including
Kompany in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group
stage
• Gerard Piqué spent four years in Manchester
as a United player from 2004–08, making 23
appearances but never facing City.
• Agüero hit five goals in ten Liga outings
against Barcelona for Club Atlético de Madrid.
• Zabaleta won none of his four derbies
against
Barcelona as a player at RCD Espanyol (D2
L2).
• Gaël Clichy was an unused substitute for
Arsenal in the 2006 UEFA Champions League
final defeat by Barcelona.
• Jesús Navas was in the Sevilla FC side that
beat Barcelona 3-0 in the 2006 UEFA Super
Cup
• Played together in club football :
Luis Suárez & Raheem Sterling (Liverpool FC)
Ivan Rakitić & Jesús Navas (Sevilla FC)
