Barcelona await visit of City and Guardiola Monday 10 October 2016  

Josep Guardiola returns to the club with whom he lifted the European Cup as both player and coach when his Manchester City side visit B...

Josep Guardiola returns to the club with
whom
he lifted the European Cup as both player and
coach when his Manchester City side visit
Barcelona on matchday three.
©AFP/Getty Images
Josep Guardiola returns to the club where he
made his name when Manchester City FC visit
FC Barcelona on matchday three.

• This meeting of the top two in Group C will
take several other Barcelona old boys back to
their former club – director of football Txiki
Begiristain, goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, winger
Nolito, and assistant coach Mikel Arteta.
Previous meetings

• The clubs met for the first time in a
competitive fixture in the 2013/14 round of
16. Barcelona won 2-0 in England with Lionel
Messi (pen) and Daniel Alves scoring, and that
pair struck again in a 2-1 victory back at the
Camp Nou, either side of Vincent Kompany's
goal. In both games City had a man sent off –
Martín Demichelis, then Pablo Zabaleta.

• The line-ups in Barcelona on 12 March 2014
were:
Barcelona: Valdés, Alves, Piqué, Mascherano,
Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Fàbregas (Sergi Roberto
86), Neymar (Alexis Sánchez 80), Messi,
Iniesta.
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany,
Lescott, Kolarov, Y Touré, Fernandinho, Nasri
(Navas 75), Silva (Negredo 72), Milner, Agüero
(Džeko 46).

• Barcelona prevailed again at the same stage
in 2014/15. In Manchester, Luis Suárez scored
twice in a 2-1 win in which Sergio Agüero also
found the net, Gaël Clichy was sent off, and
Messi had a last-minute penalty saved by Joe
Hart. Back in Barcelona, Ivan Rakitić got the
only goal and Marc-André ter Stegen saved an
Agüero spot kick.
• The line-ups at the Camp Nou on 18 March
2015 were:
Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Alves (Adriano 90+1),
Piqué, Mathieu, Alba, Rakitić (Rafinha 84),
Mascherano, Iniesta, Messi, Suárez, Neymar.
Man. City: Hart, Sagna, Kompany, Demichelis,
Kolarov, Nasri (Navas 46), Y Touré (Bony 72),
Fernandinho, Milner (Lampard 87), Silva,
Agüero.
• Zabaleta is City's only survivor from the 1-0
friendly win at Barcelona in August 2009.
Match background
Barcelona
• Barcelona are seeking a third Group C
victory
after beating Celtic FC 7-0 and VfL Borussia
Mönchengladbach 2-1 .
• The Celtic result made it 12 home UEFA
Champions League wins in a row. Overall
Barcelona are unbeaten in 17 matches at
home
in the competition since September 2013
(W16, D1).

• Barcelona's last encounter with Premier
League opposition came against Arsenal FC in
last season's round of 16: 2-0 (a) , 3-1 (h) .
• Their overall home record against English
clubs is W18 D11 L2.
Manchester City

• City followed up an opening 4-0 win over
Mönchengladbach by drawing 3-3 at Celtic on
matchday two.

• The Premier League club had mixed fortunes
in Spain last season. They won 3-1 at Sevilla
FC
in the group stage – with Raheem Sterling and
Fernandinho among the scorers – but lost 1-0
at Real Madrid CF in the semi-finals.

• City's overall away record against Spanish
sides is W2 D1 L6.
Club and player links

• This is Guardiola's second return to the
Camp
Nou as a coach, following a 3-0 defeat with
FC
Bayern Munchen in the 2014/15 UEFA
Champions League semi-finals.

• Between 2008 and 2012, Guardiola amassed
14 trophies as Barcelona coach, including the
UEFA Champions League in 2009 and 2011
and
three successive Liga titles (2009–11).

• As a Barça player, Guardiola landed six
league titles as well as the club's first
European
Cup in 1992 . He made 263 appearances
between 1991 and 2000, also featuring in their
1997 European Cup Winners' Cup final
success
– alongside Luis Enrique – and the 1992
UEFA
Super Cup victory.

• City's director of football, Begiristain, filled
the same role at Barcelona between 2003 and
2010. He was previously a member of the
Blaugrana's 1992 European Cup-winning
squad
and also won four Liga titles, the Cup
Winners'
Cup and UEFA Super Cup.

• Luis Enrique scored on three separate UEFA
Champions League trips to England as a
Barcelona player – in a 3-2 defeat at
Newcastle United FC (1997/98 group stage);
a
3-3 draw at Manchester United FC (1998/99
first group stage); and a 4-2 win at Arsenal
FC
(1999/2000 first group stage).

• Bravo made 75 appearances for Barcelona
between 2014 and 2016, but did not appear in
any of their UEFA Champions League matches.

• Bravo was captain of the Chile side that beat
Messi and Javier Mascherano's Argentina 4-2
on penalties in the 2016 Copa América final.
Messi hit his penalty over the crossbar.

• At Barcelona (2008–11), Nolito played under
Luis Enrique for Barcelona B. He made five
league and cup appearances for the senior
side, scoring in a 5-1 Copa del Rey victory
over AD Ceuta.

• Nolito provided the assist for the only goal
when RC Celta de Vigo recorded their first-ever
win at Barcelona in November 2014. In
September 2015 he scored in Celta's 4-1
home
Liga win over the Catalan club.

• City assisant coach Mikel Arteta began his
career in Barcelona's youth academy before
leaving for Paris Saint-Germain aged 18.

• As a teenager at City, Denis Suárez made
two
first-team appearances in English League Cup
ties (v Wolverhampton Wanders FC in October
2011, v Aston Villa FC in September 2012).
• Ivan Rakitić was in the FC Schalke 04 side
beaten 2-0 at home by a City team including
Kompany in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group
stage

• Gerard Piqué spent four years in Manchester
as a United player from 2004–08, making 23
appearances but never facing City.

• Agüero hit five goals in ten Liga outings
against Barcelona for Club Atlético de Madrid.

• Zabaleta won none of his four derbies
against
Barcelona as a player at RCD Espanyol (D2
L2).

• Gaël Clichy was an unused substitute for
Arsenal in the 2006 UEFA Champions League
final defeat by Barcelona.

• Jesús Navas was in the Sevilla FC side that
beat Barcelona 3-0 in the 2006 UEFA Super
Cup

• Played together in club football :
Luis Suárez & Raheem Sterling (Liverpool FC)
Ivan Rakitić & Jesús Navas (Sevilla FC)