From the outside, it is difficult to believe Manchester City can overturn Barcelona’s 2-0 lead from the first leg of their Champions League tie.
Who, after all, strides into the Nou Camp to claw back that kind of deficit? Only the most optimistic of punters would risk anything other than a few quid.
The City dressing room, however, might feel differently. After doing reasonably well at the Etihad Stadium before the penalty and red card unhinged their game-plan, Manuel Pellegrini’s players will not be giving up hope.
On the contrary, with their big-hitters back, notably Sergio Agüero, they ought to feel fairly positive about tonight.
Sergio Aguero has a proven scoring record against Barcelona and he may have a crucial role to play if his side are to upset the odds and reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time.
Manchester City trail 2-0 ahead of today’s last 16, second leg at the Nou Camp, a Lionel Messi penalty and a late Daniel Alves goal in Manchester last month putting the Spanish champions on the brink of their seventh consecutive appearance in the last eight of Europe’s elite club competition.
Aguero, who missed the first leg through injury but returned for City’s English Capital One (League) Cup final victory on March 2, scored five goals in 10 La Liga games against Barca for Atletico Madrid between 2006 and 2011.
They included a dramatic winner, his second of the match, in a 4-3 success at the Calderon in the 2008-09 season that prompted the kind of wild celebrations he unleashed with the goal that sealed the Premier League title for City in 2012.
The player, known as “Kun” after a Japanese cartoon character, also netted a double in the same La Liga fixture a year earlier, a 4-2 win for Atletico.
He has never tasted victory at the Nou Camp though in six visits but did score in a 1-1 draw in 2006-07.
