The Expert: How Guardiola masterminded City's greatest European win

Through so many supremely swift transitions, an impressive statement transformation. 

This glorious European night at the Etihad was not just so significant because it was the type of evocative evening that the modern Manchester City hierarchy so craved. Nor was it so symbolic just because they finally beat the Barcelona side they have so replicated for the first time in six attempts, or because Pep Guardiola at last returned a meaningful beating to the old club that have so humiliated them. 

It was also the manner of victory, and the circumstances. 

Although City thrashed West Brom 4-0 on Saturday to end the worst winless run of Guardiola’s career, there was still the expectation that Barcelona would inflict another defeat, and restore all those doubts. That expectation seemed to have been more than met by the half-hour mark, as Luis Enrique’s side led through Leo Messi, and looked precisely like what Guardiola proclaimed them to be: “the best”. They certainly looked a level above City, and like they would administer yet another lesson. 

It wouldn’t have been an exaggeration at that point to say City could have caved. Guardiola acknowledged they “were really in trouble”, and Ilkay Gundogan admitted they were nervous. Except, this time, City had learned their lesson. They had adapted. Guardiola was also ready to use the very circumstances against Barca, to out-think a team always capable of out-performing his players. 

The City manager actually used a lack of possession to his advantage. He also used Barca’s superiority to his advantage, and thereby so quickly went from the worst run of results in his career, to one of the Premier League’s best European wins of the last few years. This was perhaps Guardiola’s most tactically impressive win, too, since it saw his lowest ever possession figure at 34.6%. It just allowed him to maximise the exhilarating pace of Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne and - particularly - Sergio Aguero. 

From a point in the game when it was Barcelona’s magnificent attackers that were so slickly dictating the play, City just cut off the supply, and then sliced through them. It said much that Messi made just 40 passes, and only 14 in the second half. His average in the Champions League stands at 53.3 this season, and never dipped below 56.5 before this campaign. 

From there, the unusually unselfish - but still so devastating - Aguero played two key passes. His average has always been well below 1.7. It was his running that brought City such space on the break, allowing Gundogan to twice score, either side of De Bruyne’s rip-roaring free-kick. 

Of course, that play - and this win - still have to be put in the context of Barca missing some of their core. They lacked Gerard Pique’s backline-calming composure at the back, Jordi Alba’s game-breaking pace on the left and Andres Iniesta’s fluency in the middle, while Sergio Busquets looks badly off form. It was the defensive midfielder’s erratic performance that allowed City to really exploit the rest of it, but that shouldn’t be exaggerated either. 

Barca still had their front three, and still had Messi. When he is on form, there is little anyone can do to stop him settling a game. Guardiola, however, found a way. He has also found a way out of the woes of the last month, and only given his side greater strength. The nature of this way means they are likely to come out of it emboldened, improved, and with more than a few ways to win. 

City now take on Middlesbrough on Saturday. When their manager Aitor Karanka was Jose Mourinho’s assistant at Real Madrid, he once assuredly declared that their side would give Guardiola’s Barca a “football lesson”. They felt they had figured the Catalan out, that they knew the way to beat him. Guardiola’s side won 5-0. His new players look back in that old groove. They also look like they might at last be able to take City to new levels.

Can City now go on to top their Champions League group? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below