Barca show City there is no substitute for class

However fancy the Manchester City set-up, however grand their aims, the stomach is bound to churn at the sight of a £450 million (S$944.6 million) attacking prong in shirts as luminous as their talents.

City’s second-half fightback in their 2-1 loss in their last 16, first-leg Champions League clash at the Etihad on Tuesday (yesterday morning, Singapore time) could not conceal Barcelona’s first-half superiority, Lionel Messi’s majesty or the likelihood that Manuel Pellegrini’s men will advance no further than this round of 16.

Pellegrini was adamant that 4-4-2 was the right weapon against football’s most illustrious trio. His results against them — three consecutive defeats — suggest otherwise.

Luis Suarez was the first onto the scoresheet with an obligatory goal against Joe Hart. Where have we seen that before? In Sao Paulo, where he returned from a month out with a knee injury to end England’s World Cup.

To extend that symmetry, Suarez put a second one beyond the England goalkeeper on 29 minutes after Messi flashed across the City penalty area and guided the ball to Jordi Alba to cross. City 0 Suarez 2, with less than half an hour gone.

With Sergio Aguero fit in City colours and David Silva present, this was surely the most star-studded game at the Etihad. But there was no mistaking the imbalance in Barcelona’s favour. Their front line is almost gaudy — or Gaudi — and would have no place for Edin Dzeko, who started alongside Aguero in a high-risk City XI.

The key to the game, every pundit said, was whether City’s deployment two strikers would concede midfield superiority to Luis Enrique’s team. With Messi dropping deep to shape the attacks, we soon had our answer, as Fernando and James Milner laboured to stop Barcelona’s greased moves through the middle.

The Barcelona trident have been responsible for 70 goals this season: 37 of them from Messi, who missed a penalty in added time. Whatever the truth about friction between him and the manager, or a casino trip the night before the flight to Manchester, Messi asserted his ball-carrying brilliance without difficulty here.

As Liverpool found when Ronaldo visited Anfield, the greatest players can make fine players look feeble, good teams turn grey. You could see Messi fancying the way City were set up. It offered him avenues to run down, runs to pick out, bursts of magic to inflict. None of us knows how it feels to play in a forward line where there are two other world-class players to complete the job if necessary.

There they were: numbers nine, 10 and 11, all in fluorescent shirts. The high-rollers. At a conservative estimate it would cost £450 million to buy all three: Messi, Neymar and Suarez, who should have known he would be third, at best, on the Barcelona VIP list. Fourth if you count Andres Iniesta. Or Xavi, or Gerard Pique. The best card he holds, though, is that he is a natural centre-forward, unlike Messi or Neymar, and can go bump for bump with the likes of Kompany and Martin Demichelis.

The closest City can get to this level of destructive creativity is Silva and Aguero. But to see Milner and Fernando as the two central midfielders in a game of this difficulty is the best indication of the continuing gap between the sides.

In nine seasons in Spain, Pellegrini managed only four wins against Barcelona. His overall record was played 22, won four, drawn four, lost 14.

Malaga’s shock win over Barca at the weekend may have encouraged Pellegrini to believe his guests would be vulnerable, but it was more likely to have heightened their concentration.

On 67 minutes, City unleashed Wilfried Bony, bought for £25 million because Dzeko and Stefan Jovetic had not supported Aguero well enough.

Contrast that emergency spending with the evolution of Barcelona’s forward line. At least Aguero — his brilliant goal after 69 minutes kept City’s hopes alive for the second-leg — is in that class.

City want to be at the exalted level where games are dominated, not chased.

They are not there yet. Few are, against Suarez, Neymar and Messi. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

Result of Wednesday’s other Champions League last 16, first-leg match: