BARCELONA // As Manuel Pellegrini’s managerial stock has gradually risen, so his record in matches against Barcelona has worsened.
The Manchester City manager led a Villarreal side to a second-place league finish, ahead of Barcelona, in 2008. His is the last non-Madrid side to finish higher than Barcelona in the Spanish table.
At Villarreal, the Chilean was regularly cited as the most impressive rival manager. His team entertained and got results against Frank Rijkaard’s Barca side, enjoying a record of four wins and three draws in 12 matches, but the victories dried up when Pep Guardiola took charge in 2008.
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In his 14 games against Barca since, as manager of Real Madrid, Malaga and City, Pellegrini has two wins and 12 losses. When the teams were drawn together last season in the last 16 of the Uefa Champions League, Barcelona fans believed that their side were the underdogs.
That stopped after a first leg in Manchester when City were outclassed 2-0 and still looked every bit inexperienced debutants in the last 16. Barcelona triumphed then 4-1 on aggregate and now are in the last 16 for the 11th year in succession.
Pellegrini was criticised in the Catalan press last week for being curt in his answers when journalists showed up in Manchester expecting him to speak about the Barca game. Not unreasonably, he said he would do that only after City’s game against Newcastle United. He did, however, give an in-depth interview to the Madrid-based Marca, further fuelling Catalan irritation.
It is a compliment to City that Barcelona see them as a threat. While Barca praised their new training ground and 7,000-seat reserve stadium, the Etihad has several former senior Barcelona officials in senior positions, from the chief executive to the sporting director.
It also is the club most commonly linked with Lionel Messi when he annually agitates for an improved contract. Former Barca player Yaya Toure has been a bigger influence in Manchester than he was at Camp Nou, while Pablo Zabaleta, Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Jesus Navas, Willy Caballero and Martin Demichelis all played in Spain. Zabaleta and Aguero visited Barcelona last weekend to see Messi.
Catalans are also baffled by Pellegrini’s January statement that he considers the Premier League more important than the Champions League. City sell out their 48,000-capacity home (soon to be 54,000) for almost every Premier League game, but several high-profile European games have seen empty seats.
The Barcelona game did sell out, and 2,500 fans will travel from Catalonia, fans less optimistic than they were before Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat against Pellegrini’s former team, Malaga. That ended an 11-match winning run in which Messi and Luis Suarez were hitting top form.
It also is the first season since 2003/04 that Barca have failed to score in five league games by this stage of the season, but the form of Luis Enrique’s side in Europe is excellent. They won a tough group ahead of Paris Saint-Germain, Ajax and Apoel and remain favourites to win the two games against City, the second at Camp Nou on March 18.
Nonetheless, they will not underestimate the formidable English champions.
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