UEFA Champions League: Barcelona vs Manchester City preview

A special match will take place on Wednesday at Camp Nou as Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola faces Barcelona, his former club, in the most interesting clash of the day in the Champions League. The two sides have met four times in European competitions and the record is definitely favourable to Barcelona as the Blaugrana won all those four meetings. Guardiola has faced his former club with Bayern Munich as well and that didn't go too well either, he lost 3-0 in Catalonia. Barcelona have already suffered two shock defeats in La Liga so far, against Alaves and Celta Vigo, but their Champions League record is perfect. They started the group stage with a 7-0 thrashing of Celtic and then they fought back to defeat Borussia Monchengladbach 2-1. Neither of those two opponents can be compared to Manchester City though, so this will be the first real Champions League test of the season for Luis Enrique's men. After an impressive start to the season with ten consecutive wins in all competitions, Manchester City have started to show signs of weakness. First they recorded a 3-3 draw at Celtic in the Champions League, then lost 2-0 at Premier League rivals Tottenham, and last weekend they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Everton. Pep Guardiola might have wished for an easier opponent on Wednesday to get his team out of the slump, but a positive result at Barcelona would surely restore confidence at the Etihad Stadium. Probable line-ups: Barcelona: Ter Stegen - Roberto, Umtiti, Pique, Alba - Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta - Messi, Suarez, Neymar Man City: Bravo - Zabaleta, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov - Fernandinho - Sterling, De Bruyne, Silva, Nolito - Aguero My prediction: Barcelona to win 3-2. Here are the odds for the match at Bet365: Barcelona win - 1.45 Draw - 5.25 Man City win - 7.00