In a tie which many are saying would be befitting of any Champions League Final, two behemoths of European football go toe-to-toe for a place in the quarter-finals tonight at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. We look at both clubs and compare them.
Home Ground – Manchester City play their home matches in the Etihad Stadium which has a capactity of 47,805 with a planning application gone in to increase the capacity to 62,500. Barcelona play in the Camp Nou stadium which has a capacity of 99,786 with plans to extend the capacity to 105,000
Previous matches – This is the first official match between the clubs. Previously they have only met in friendlies and on the last two occasions, City won. They beat Barcelona at the opening match at their new Etihad Stadium 2-1 in 2003 and then went to the Camp Nou and won 1-0 in 2009 (pic below). Yes, that’s Stephen Ireland and Richard Dunne you can see surrounding Lionel Messi below.
Squad Value – The Manchester City squad is worth approximately €450m whereas the Barcelona squad is said to be worth €588m, mainly because of the involvement of a certain Lionel Messi.
Champions League History – This is City’s first foray into the knockout stages of Europe’s most prestigious football tournament, whereas Barcelona are seasoned veterans having won the trophy four times, with three of those wins coming between the years 2006 and 2011.
Players – Yaya Toure (below)is the most high profile player to have switched between the clubs and he will want to prove something against his old team. There are also four Spaniards in the City squad: Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo, Javi Garcia and David Silva.
The form this season: City are challenging on all fronts this season and are in the running for four trophies. They have scored an astronomical 117 goals in 40 matches this season. However, Barcelona are only six goals behind having played the same amount of games.
Social Media presence:
Facebook – Manchester City 9,515,216, Barcelona 55,261,500
Twitter – Manchester City 1,511,774, Barcelona 11,111,940
Estimated number of fans worldwide – Manchester City 10m, Barcelona 260m
Forbes Value – Manchester City $689 million Barcelona $2.6 billion
Most Expensive Signing: Manchester City – Kun Aguero €45m. Barcelona – Zlatan Ibrahimovic (below) €69m
Champions League Form this season:
Top scorer: Man City, Aguero – 6 goals in 5 games ; Barcelona, Messi – 6 goals in 3 games
Goals scored/conceded in the Groups: Manchester City F18 A10 ; Barcelona F16 A5
