1. It's Not Over Yet....
Most bookies will give very reasonable prices on City or Arsenal going through and with good reason. Barcelona have won 11 out of 12 league games this season at the Camp Nou including an ominous
6-0 victory in their last game against Rayo Vallecano. In the Champions League Barcelona have won 3 out of 3 at home and scored 13 goals in the process. Bayern have won 11 out of 11 in the Bundesliga at the Allianz Arena, scoring 9 goals in the last 2 games and only conceding 5 in total. But enough with the doom and gloom, there are reasons why these ties are not over. Firstly, Barcelona did lose
2-3 to Valencia at the Camp Nou as recently as 1st February 2014. That game in particular showed that they do have defensive frailties which a team of City's quality could exploit. Gerard Pique has his critics for his positional sense and Javier Mascherano would probably still not call himself a natural centre back. Barcelona have only kept clean sheets in 50% of their La Liga games at home. This is against teams which Real Madrid aside, City would expect to beat themselves. Lastly, City may well have Sergio Aguero back for the second leg, and what a boost that would be. The obvious starting point for any Arsenal optimism is that they beat Bayern
2-0 at the Allianz arena in last year's competition. Most agree that Arsenal are performing better this season so the feat is of course possible. Furthermore, Manchester City went to Bayern and beat them 3-2 in December last year. It has not exactly gone to plan for Bayern in their last two home games against English opposition. Additionally Wenger may chose to restore top scorer Olivier Giroud to the team after a well earned rest, his physical presence and link up play could prove crucial against the shaky-looking Boateng. If fans are not convinced by these points then they can clutch at the straw of old cliché that 'anything can happen in football'.