A tough night for Manchester City
Last night, especially in the first half, Barcelona were sublime. True, Manchester City’s set-up played to the Spaniards strengths but the skills of Messi, Neymar and two-goal man Luis Suarez were a joy to watch.
City were much better in the second half, though, scored a vital goal and they survived a last-second penalty to keep the tie alive heading to the Camp Nou.
One of Manchester City’s poorer performers was Vincent Kompany. The central defender was caught out badly for the first goal as he should have cleared the ball rather than letting it fall to Suarez for the opener and he could have done better for the second too if we are being harsh.
After that he improved but he never looked comfortable when facing the three-pronged devil that is the Barca attack.
Proof of how he failed to impose himself on the game comes in this simple stat; Lionel Messi had three times the number of succesful tackles in the game that Kompany did.
Now, Kompany’s defensive partner Martin Demichelis went zero for three in attempted tackles so it was a bad night all round but City needed their captain to set the tone and the stats prove that Kompany failed to do so.
