A special night awaits at the Etihad

City’s roving reporter writes every week for Chron Sport
THE Champions League is a truly unique competition, so I don’t think you can take too much notice of the contrasting results of Manchester City and Barcelona from the weekend.

City will now be full of confidence as they put their final touches of preparation together for tonight’s massive last 16 clash at the Etihad.

It was a great 5-0 win for Manuel Pellegrini’s men against Newcastle. The whole team was superb and they played some brilliant stuff. Barcelona lost 1-0 at home to Malaga in La Liga, but you can’t really take too much notice of that.

The Champions League is different, special, and Barca have such wonderful history and awesome players. They will be extremely hard to beat tonight.

City certainly have the players to get a result in the first leg, and there’s good new in terms of availability: Everybody is more or less fully fit, barring perhaps James Milner.

It’s going to be great to see players such as Messi, Suarez and Neymar at the Etihad, and I can’t wait.

I’ll be busy, conducting interviews with fans before the game for a website feature.

I’m not sure what Mr Pellegrini’s mindset will be in terms of what kind of result he’d settle for tonight. Even if City draw or even lose, everybody knows they are still more than capable of getting a result in the second leg.

It’s a chance for big players to make an even bigger name for themselves. I hope City really seize the day.

As if tonight isn’t big enough, attention will then focus back home and a small matter of a Premier League away trip to Liverpool on Sunday. That’s going to be massive too, and a huge test given recent form. But if City can win the gap to leaders Chelsea would be reduced to two points.

Chelsea won’t play in the league this weekend, so it would be a major boost if that gap could be narrowed.