Barca won’t ease up against Man City

Barcelona have sent a strong warning to Manchester City that they have no intention of easing up in the Champions League this evening.

The Primera Division leaders host the out-of-form English champions in the second leg of their last-16 tie at the Nou Camp  already holding a 2-1 advantage.

The Catalan giants outplayed City at the Etihad Stadium three weeks ago and would have won more convincingly had Joe Hart not saved a late penalty.

The odds appear to be against City, who slumped to a dismal defeat at Burnley last weekend, but Barca are insisting the job is not done yet.

Playmaker Andres Iniesta said: "We will have to go out there and play in a very comprehensive manner. We need to have lots of ball possession so they suffer, so they have to follow the ball.

"We need to find those moments to be dangerous, we need to find our superior skills whenever possible. It is about minimising their potential.

"If we do not achieve these objectives, Manchester City can achieve their own objectives. We have to control what is going on at every different moment."

Barcelona face arch-rivals Real Madrid in a crucial top-of-the-table clash on Sunday.

With the team in such an apparently strong position in the City tie, it would be easy for focus to start switching towards the weekend assignment but Iniesta and coach Luis Enrique insist that is not the case.

Iniesta, 30, who spoke along with Enrique at the pre-match press conference, said: "It is true that after tomorrow we have a very important match on Sunday against our main rivals but we are not thinking beyond tomorrow. It is important we are totally concentrated on tomorrow's match.

"We had a good result in the first leg but this is the Champions League. Manchester City have great players that are capable of turning the situation upside down.” -- PA