City's win over Barca sweet for Guardiola

Nov 1, 2016 - 10:39 PM Ilkay Gundogan scored either side of Kevin De Bruyne's curling free kick to help Manchester City come from behind to beat Barcelona 3-1.

Lionel Messi's 90th goal in the Champions League gave Barcelona a 21st-minute lead, but City was rampant after Gundogan's equalizer in the 39th, handing Pep Guardiola victory over his former club.

It was a landmark win for City over a team that the English club has modelled itself on since becoming a major force in the game following an Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008. And it was a satisfying victory for Guardiola, who coached Barcelona to 14 trophies from 2008-12.

City's pressing was relentless in the second half, forcing errors from Barcelona's makeshift defence and holding midfielder Sergio Busquets, with De Bruyne being at the heart of everything.

The Belgium playmaker whipped home a 25-metre free kick in the 51st minute to put City 2-1 up and then provided a stunning through-ball in the lead up to the third goal, which was slammed in by Gundogan from close range in the 74th.

City had lost all five of its meetings with Barcelona in the Champions League over the past four seasons - including a 4-0 defeat at Camp Nou two weeks ago.

Barcelona missed the chance to secure progress to the last 16 with two games to spare in Group C, and is now two points clear of City. Guardiola's team will advance with a draw at third-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach in round five, provided Barcelona doesn't lose at Celtic.

With both teams making mistakes and often being careless with their passing, it was a frantic, end-to-end game at Etihad Stadium, which came to life like never before in the Champions League.

A City win looked highly unlikely after 30 minutes.

Barcelona carved City's defence open time and again, particularly for Messi's opener that came from a length-of-the field counterattack after a City free kick was cleared.

As good as Messi's finish was, City's defending for the goal was woeful. The deepest City defender was 10 meters inside Barcelona's half when Messi fired a crossfield pass toward Neymar, who ran upfield to the edge of City's area.

The timing of Neymar's pass to Messi was perfect and the Argentina forward took the ball in his stride before gliding between two defenders and placing a low shot inside the near post.

The game changed when Gundogan equalized, and that goal also came from a mistake.

Sergi Roberto's inside pass to Busquets was wayward and collected by Aguero, who slipped in Raheem Sterling. Instead of shooting from 12 meters, Sterling had the vision to slide a cross over to Gundogan to tap in left-footed at the far post.

Source: AAP