Barcelona Burn Manchester City in Champions League

 0-2 

The UEFA Champions League returned today with the first leg of the knock-rounds featuring a big match between English giants Manchester City hosting Spanish powerhouse Barcelona.  Naturally the visitors from La Liga had a strong Spanish presence, but City too fielded Spanish players David Silva, Álvaro Negredo, and Jesús Navas in their offense.

As Barcelona are prone to do, the possession was heavily in their favor which limited the chances from Manchester City.  At half-time there was no score with only three shots on target combined between the clubs.  City had defended the potent Barcelona attack well for the first forty-five minutes, but the second-half was rather disastrous.

Barcelona won a penalty when Messi was fouled by centerback Martín Demichelis in the box.  The referee determined the foul was an effort to deny a "goal scoring opportunity" and sent Demichelis off with a red card.  Messi then scored from the spot to put Barcelona ahead (54').

On the verge of stoppage-time Barcelona added a second goal from fullback Dani Alves.  Coming in late off the bench, Neymar played Alves in-on-goal and the fullback score with a nutmeg shot on keeper Joe Hart (90').

Manchester City had a tall task ahead trying to score one goal when they replay at Camp Nou, but the second goal may have just ended their Champions League hopes.  City will have several weeks to come up with a new game plan before heading to Spain for the second leg on March 12th.

Manchester City Coast Over Blackburn in FA Cup

 5-0 

Blackburn Rovers forced a replay against Manchester City in the FA Cup when the first meeting ended in a 1-1 draw earlier this month.  Manchester City were the obvious favorites heading into today's match and this time City did not let Blackburn hang around.

Manchester City were not particularly good in the first-half though, especially considering their opponent.  Edin Dzeko may have had the worst first-half in his career at Manchester.  Every shot attempt from Dzeko was either way over the goal or well wide.  The defense was shuffled for the mid-week fixture with Clichy the only regular starter.  The defense handled Blackburn nonetheless, and only allowed one shot on target in the half.

In the final seconds of the first-half City did finally score thanks to the other striker Álvaro Negredo.  Fernandinho played the cross into the box and Negredo scored with a far-post header to take the lead (45').  Not surprisingly, the goal at the end of the half completely changed the shape of the game allowing City to impose their will on Blackburn.

At the start of the second-half Blackburn made a change at keeper and brought on Eastwood in place of Robinson.  Eastwood did not get a chance to settle into the game and was tested right away.  An early cross put Negredo behind the defense and Eastwood was forced off his line.  Negredo got to the ball first though, and scored with a chip-shot over Eastwood (47').

Dzeko then made up for his poor first-half performance with a pair of goals.  Both times Jesús Navas played the final ball for the striker, and both times Dzeko scored with first-touch shots at the near-post 67' and 79').  In between the two goal from Dzeko, Sergio Agüero was introduced and scored immediately.  Dzeko made the pass inside the box for Agüero who used his first touch of the match to create space then finished with his second touch (73').

In the end this was a rather comfortable win for Manchester City.  All three forwards used today scored as the powerful offense helps City advance to the next round.  Watford are the "lucky" club to play City in the next round later this month.

Manchester City Edge Crystal Palace

 1-0 

Coming off a big win against Liverpool earlier this week, Manchester City had a considerably easier matchup with Crystal Palace today.  Crystal Palace have won a few games this season, but they have far too many loses and only one draw so far.  Crystal Palace also have one of the worst goal-differentials while Manchester City has the best in the Premier League.  Manchester City were the obvious favorites to win the match, but Crystal Palace did not make it easy.

Through the first-half Manchester City were far superior and racked up over a dozen shots to Crystal Palace's two.  Neither side scored, and the biggest incident came when Crystal Palace forward Cameron Jerome collided with City keeper Joe Hart.  Jerome caught Joe Hart in the head with his foot causing a laceration just below the eye for the keeper.  However it was Jerome that came up the worse for wear and had to come out with a knee injury.  Marouane Chamakh replaced Jerome with ten minutes left in the first-half.

After half-time City manager Pellegrini made some changes and brought in more offense.  Nasri and Negredo entered the match and soon after Manchester took the lead.  Jesús Navas was able to roll a cross into the box for Edin Dzeko who score with a firm one-touch finish (66').

Crystal Palace had defended well up to that point, but had little attacking presence.  Now behind a goal, Palace were in poor shape to respond and get the equalizer.  Jonathan Williams and Dwight Gayle came into the match for Crystal Palace, but City remained solid in defense and held on to the one-nil lead.

Manchester City remain in first-place and put the pressure back on Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool who all play tomorrow.  With a win against Newcastle, Arsenal could become level on points with Manchester City, however the goal-differential would keep City in first-place regardless.

Manchester City Avoid Upset By Fulham

 2-4 

Manchester City have been on a good run since losing to Sunderland early in November.  Today at Craven Cottage, Manchester City continued their impressive run with a solid win against Fulham.  Fulham are without forward Berbatov who is injured and went with Adel Taarabt today at striker.  Similarly, City are without forward Agüero and played the tandem Edin Dzeko and
Álvaro Negredo in the attack.

Manchester City had the better start and scored two in the first-half.  A free-kick for Manchester City setup the first goal of the match coming from the edge of the penalty box.  Yaya Touré stepped up to take the shot and finished with a perfect strike that got over the wall and back down under the crossbar (23').

Later in the first-half captain Kompany added another goal for City with a second-chance effort.  Defender Demichelis won a header in Fulham's box that keeper Stekelenburg parried away.  However, the ball stayed in front of his goal and Kompany was ready for a tap-in finish (43').

Fulham were significantly better in the second-half and rallied to level the score.  Their first goal was initiated by Taarabt making a great run with the ball up the left flank.  Kieran Richardson made the run into the box and Taabart picked him out for an easy finish (50').

The home side then caught a lucky break that led to the equalizer.  Fulham fullback Riether got forward and delivered a cross into the box intended for John Arne Riise.  Kompany was in position to clear the cross, but the ball took an unlikely course off his foot and ended up as an own-goal (69').

Fortunately for Kompany the mistake did not cost City the match as two more goals were added to secure the win.  Substitutes Jesús Navas and James Milner each scored in the late minutes, bursting Fulham's bubble.  First Navas scored after Silva played a through-ball to put him behind the back line.  Navas finished with a firm strike that slipped between the legs of keeper Stekelenburg to retake the lead (78').

Then Milner scored the final goal moments after entering the match.  Negredo played a ball into the box that defender Hughes should have cleared.  However, Hughes whiffed his attempt allowing the ball to run to Milner waiting behind him for an easy finish (83').

Fulham have been rather disappointing this season and could find themselves in a relegation battle if their play does not improve.  Manchester City on the other hand are playing very well at the moment and could challenge Liverpool and Arsenal for the top spot in the weeks ahead.