Former Celtic manager Neil Lennon enjoyed a famous 2-1 victory over the Catalan side in 2012 and has identified the key parts of his game plan that brought on that shock result.
Manchester City has had more possession and completed more passes than any other team in the Premier League this season, but Manuel Pellegrini has struggled to coax the same form and style out of his side in the UEFA Champions League.
Matters are unlikely to improve in that regard when City takes on Barcelona, the best possession team in Europe alongside Bayern Munich. For the first leg, the defending English champion will be without the suspended Yaya Toure, the pace-setting hub of its play from central midfield.
But Barcelona has been beaten before by combinations of smart defending, purposeful passing, good use of set pieces and, usually, a little bit of luck. Barca's most unlikely defeat of recent years came against Celtic, in 2012, on the back of a run of just two losses in 29 continental games.
One of the many wins Barcelona had recorded before it traveled to Glasgow came against the same opponent at Camp Nou but it was there that, as then-manager Neil Lennon explains, the seeds for Celtic’s famous 2-1 victory a fortnight later were sown.
Lennon, now the manager of Bolton Wanderers, told Goal: “We were playing on a Wednesday night in the Nou Camp. So my assistant and I flew out on the Sunday to Deportivo - after 15 minutes they [Barcelona] were 3-0 up. We looked at each other and thought ‘we’re in a bit of trouble here’. Anyway, the game ended up 5-4. There was a bit of individual brilliance from [Lionel] Messi, he picked up the ball and went on one of these mazy runs. He smacked the ball with no back lift into the corner. I was up out of my seat, I was enthralled by it.
“The four goals they conceded were a corner, a free kick, a penalty and an own goal. I came away thinking we're not going to play through this team, it's going to be difficult to score against them in open play. There is no chance of trying to match them in possession. We may get a bit of joy at set pieces. If we can stay in the game and keep our defensive structure, force them into wider areas and try not to get them into central areas around our 18-yard box… then we may have an opportunity to eke something out of the game. It was a long shot, obviously.”
Only Jordi Alba’s last-minute winner denied the Hoops a draw. As Lennon had predicted, set pieces looked Celtic’s most likely route to goal and Georgios Samaras headed in Charlie Mulgrew’s free kick to put the Hoops in front, but Andres Iniesta equalized.
Barcelona’s problems defending dead balls have persisted. In the group stage, Paris Saint-Germain beat the Catalans 3-2 at home with two of its goals coming from such situations.
Manchester City will know that if it can keep the tie in the balance, the deliveries Toure and David Silva can provide will give it a chance. The team will also need Joe Hart to be at his very best.
“You always need a bit of fortune against these teams,” Lennon added. “You need your goalkeeper to play very well. One thing for sure is they are going to come for you and they are going to create openings. If they are patient enough to do it and be disciplined then it's good enough for our players as well.
“We rode our luck a little, [Alexis] Sanchez missed a great chance early on. Then we were okay in the game and got a break with the set piece and scored, so psychologically we got something to hold onto... and we did for long periods. In the end they kept coming at us and we switched off at the very end.”
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