English machine gun vs Spanish sniper

Tonight's match will see two of the most offensively strong sides on the continent. The proof lies in the huge amount of goals they have scored in recent months - they have scored a combined total of 228 goals in all competitions. However, this is no coincidence as both teams are designed to attack. They set their sights on the opposition's goal and do not think about the scoreline.

Barcelona has remained true to this philosophy of attacking football for many years and it has been implemented at all levels of the club. This is a new approach for City, who only began to play this way when Pellegrini took over this season. The team under Mancini played a more measured attacking approach. Messi and Agüero are the two leaders for these teams when it comes to scoring goals. Both are references in attack and City will sorely miss the Argentine striker, who is out injured. However, the greatest achievement by Pellegrini and 'El Tata' Martino is the fact that they are not totally dependent on the two players.

Both teams' goals have been shared amongst the front lines, with Alexis, Pedro, Cesc, Neymar, Negredo, Dzeko and Touré chipping in with their share. Rather than the presence of a single figure, something that happened to Barcelona in previous seasons with Leo Messi, the scoring rate of both teams is the result of collective work.

/Marca/