Two struggling teams will face off in the Champions league on Wednesday when Manchester City visits Barcelona for the second leg of their matchup.
Most believe that this tie is finished. Blaugrana stormed into the Ethiad Stadium, picked up a penalty goal from Lionel Messi and then added an insurance goal late from Dani Alves. Few would pick City to make a valiant comeback and score three in the Camp Nou, but anything seems possible considering the play of both sides.
Will Barcelona hold on? Or is Manchester City capable of a miracle?
Barcelona
Lionel Messi has 12 goals in 2014, which should be an indicator of the fact that he is back in form and up to speed. The reality is that Messi could and has played better than his current form; that is of course a scary thought with all things considered. The problem is that his team is not playing up to its usual standards. The midfield looked at a loss for creative solutions to unlock a rather poor Real Valladolid team this weekend.
Since defeating Manchester City a few weeks ago, Barcelona has actually lost two of three games and has struggled to find offensive answers to other teams' insistent "parking the bus" strategy. Neymar has struggled mightily in 2014 for Barcelona and his poor form could not be more apparent when juxtaposed with his recent explosion of goals for the Brazilian national team. On Brazil, he is the focus of the offense while on Barcelona he seems confused about his role and seems intent to contain his own creativity.
Barcelona's other major problem is its defense. The team simply looks vulnerable on any opposing scoring chance; this could give City a tremendous amount of confidence considering its own lethal arsenal of scorers.
Manchester City
The English side should be competitive in this game if it can figure out how to play more like it did at the beginning of the year. The team is coming off a disheartening 2-1 loss in the FA Cup against Wigan Athletic. City's offense has seemingly dried up and its defensive play has started to become a burden.
The team has the talent to overcome Barcelona, but it must find a way to play at a higher level. The team looked uncomfortable without the ball in the first leg, but must put pressure on a fragile Barcelona side in order to take control of the match.
Player to Watch: David Silva is the main man for Manchester City. His form for Spain was terrific last week in the friendly against Italy and he has shown his ability to take control of a game and dominate opposition. If he can do that on Wednesday then there is a chance that City can reverse the scoreline. Winning by the score of 3-0 will be a tough task, but Silva and his supporting cast have more than enough talent to pull off the feat.
Prediction: City wins 2-1.
The match kicks off at 2:45 p.m. EST and can be streamed online on Fox Soccer 2 Go. It can also be viewed on Fox Deportes.