MANCHESTER – The last time Luis Suarez was on the pitch against Manchester City, it was one of the final games of the 2013-2014 Barclays English Premier League season. The former EPL Player of the Year was with Liverpool, and the team’s costly second half collapse that saw City score four unanswered goals, ended any and all chance of Suarez and the Reds lifting the trophy.
Flash-forward to Tuesday, and Suarez struck again against his old English foes. Suarez, scored a brace for his new team Barcelona, and the Catalan squad defeated Manchester City 2-1 in front of the Sky Blue fans at Eithad Stadium.
The UEFA Champions League game was a rematch of last year’s Champions League Round of 16 in which Barcelona blew out Manchester City 4-1 on aggregate. The third match between the two ended the same as the second one did, with Barcelona winning 2-1 and eliminating the Blues from Champions League play. Tuesday was just the first leg of the two-game playoff, but Barcelona will return to Camp Nou next month with a goal lead and two crucial away goals.
All Barcelona’s scoring came in a dominant first half that saw Suarez score on a beautiful shot from the right corner in the 16th minute, and again in the 30th minute as he crashed the net after a pass by Jordi Alba found him in front of the goal.
Argentine Sergio Aguero, a national teammate of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, got Manchester City on the board in the 69th minute. David Silva was streaking to the goal, but instead of attempting a shot, he left a brilliant back heel pass for Aguero who beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen to his right side for the goal.
Moments later, City’s Gael Clichy, picked up his second yellow card of the match and was ejected from the game. It was the third time in as many matches that City has picked up a red card against Barcelona. That turned out to be the nail in the coffin for the second place EPL team as they would not be able to recover playing with a man down.
In stoppage time, Messi was awarded a penalty kick for an illegal tackle in the box. Manchester City keeper, Joe Hart, made an amazing diving save to deny Messi who tried to head in the rebound, but it went wide. The missed opportunity could loom large for Barcelona who will now head into leg 2 of the knockout round next month with only a one-goal lead on aggregate.
Ironically, either Suarez or Aguero scored all three goals, two players who have been linked together in possible transfer rumors this summer. Suarez, who has struggled scoring for Barcelona this year, has made it known that he would welcome a return to the Premier League. Manchester City, who was on the receiving end of some of Suarez’s 31 goals last season, is interested in the Uruguayan striker and would be willing to swap Aguero to make it happen.
Game Notes:
Aguero’s second half goal was his 11th goal in his last 10 Champions League matches. It was Barcelona’s 200th career Champions League game and they surrendered 200 goals in the same span. Suarez scored two goals the last time he went against Joe Hart when Uruguay defeated England 2-1 at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
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