The reputation is of a team who fight to the end. Manchester City certainly did that here, Joe Hart saving a penalty from Lionel Messi with close to the last kick of the match.
Further heroics, and more, will be required if they are to retrieve this tie in the Nou Camp next month, however.
A 1-0 win, for instance, will not be enough. The target for Manchester City is to win by two goals against a team who proved on Tuesday night they had lost none of their attacking prowess, despite talk of crisis this season. At times, Barcelona were mesmerising. Luis Suarez scored twice on his return to English soil and Messi was quite wonderful until his injury-time miss.
Luis Suarez fires Barcelona ahead from a tight angle after the ball fell to him off Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany
Suarez celebrates the crucial first away goal after finishing emphatically past Joe Hart, as Kompany looks despondent on his knees
The former Liverpool striker slides in ahead of Martin Demichelis to flick Jordi Alba's cross past Hart and double Barcelona's lead
Suarez, who scored only once in six games against City as a Liverpool player, was on song on his return to England
Kompany, Fernando and James Milner trudge back to the half-way line after Suarez's second goal dented City's hopes of progressing
Sergio Aguero fires past Marc Andre ter Stegen to put Manchester City back in the game after a lovely lay-off from David Silva
Aguero celebrates with James Milner after scoring what could turn out to be a vital goal in the context of the tie with 20 minutes to go
Gael Clichy is shown the red card after picking up two bookings, leaving Manchester City to play the closing stages a man down
Lionel Messi sees his stoppage-time penalty saved by Joe Hart, the only blemish on another superb display from the Argentine
Barcelona's star man attempted a diving header on the follow-up, but he couldn't make a good contact and the ball went wide
The Argentinian forward cannot believe it after missing his fourth penalty in seven attempts, wasting the opportunity to put the tie to bed
If City were allowed back into the game in the second half it was maybe because Barcelona did not know how to handle such superiority. Undecided on whether to push on in search of a rout, or settle for the two-goal winning margin, ultimately they lost their way and ended up with neither.
So there is hope, just not much. That City’s players left the field to an ovation was more down to what might have been. Without Hart’s save they would have needed to win 3-0 in Nou Camp and the game would have been over. As it stands, it isn’t. Not quite.
City are equally fortunate that referee Felix Brych decided not to caution Pablo Zabaleta for the foul on Messi that yielded the penalty. He would have missed the return leg through suspension had that been the case. City will already be without Gael Clichy. Banned on the totting up procedure when he collected a booking for a foul on Ivan Rakitic, Clichy compounded this by a quite reckless challenge on Dani Alves that saw him shown a second yellow and dismissed.
City were in the ascendancy at that point and Clichy’s sending-off halted their momentum. It was not that they did not have the chances to undo Barcelona on Tuesday night, more that they lacked the wit or the killer instinct to exploit them.
Edin Dzeko and later Martin Demichelis both had headers from close range in the second half that were offered up tamely to Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Had either gone in, Barcelona’s confidence may have been tested.
Instead, it was left to Sergio Aguero to keep the tie live. Javier Mascherano had struggled with his pace for much of the evening, and Aguero finally made that advantage count on 69 minutes after Clichy dispossessed Messi. He fed the ball to Fernandinho, who played it into David Silva, his deft backwards flick teeing up Aguero for an outstanding finish.
It was just about deserved but City never came close to scaling the peaks of Barcelona’s first-half display. Barcelona looked the better team: it really is as simple as that.
Of course, if Barca truly are easier to play against than Stoke City, as City captain Vincent Kompany bizarrely opined pre-match, then this tie is very much in the balance. The evidence to support this claim seems scant, however.
When Barcelona hit their stride, City cannot live with them and many will feel the tie ended as a contest when Suarez scored his second of the night after 30 minutes. If City had found a way of containing Suarez it would have given greater hope that they could do it before a home crowd second time around.
Suarez, in his first game on English soil since leaving Liverpool last summer, made a few early mistakes but made up for it with his goals
Lionel Messi gets away from Manchester City full back Gael Clichy as the visitors took control at the Etihad Stadium
Edin Dzeko tries an early volley but it was blocked by a Barcelona defender as City struggled to create many clear-cut chances early on
Andres Iniesta (left) and Javier Mascherano try to close down Dzeko as City looked to make a fast start against the Spanish side
Pablo Zabaleta puts in a strong tackle on Brazilian star Neymar as City worked hard to limit their opponents options going forward
Suarez celebrates after silencing the Etihad Stadium crowd with his first goal which put the Catalan club in control of the tie
Dzeko and Silva prepare to restart the game but Manchester City were outclassed by Barcelona from start to finish on Tuesday night
Barcelona were a different class, making Manuel Pellegrini’s side look uncommonly inferior in every way. They closed City down with greater urgency and went from there. Sometimes they didn’t even have to do the hard work, so careless were City in possession.
Ball at their feet, Barcelona raised the game to its next level: an incredible level of skill, but with purpose. The crowd watched, mute and awed, maybe a little embarrassed, too. Their champions looked strictly second-rate.
That two goals came from Suarez (left) shows the power of revenge as motivation. He clearly believes he has a few scores to settle over here, his resentment honed by a misplaced sense of injustice left over from the World Cup. Suarez hasn’t been at his best since moving to Barcelona — plenty of endeavour, precious few goals — but here was the match- winning phenomenon we recall from his days at Liverpool.
A chance in the 13th minute hinted at Suarez’s problem since his move. Set clear by a woefully weak pass back from Fernando, he decided to unselfishly feed a team-mate, rather than go it alone. At Liverpool, he would no doubt have tried to finish — and quite possibly succeeded, such is his talent. Here, he did the decent thing, the move broke down and the ball eventually returned to him in an inferior position, his shot travelling wide.
Last season's Premier League player of the season could have had another goal but was denied by Hart when one on one
Manchester City's in-form midfielder James Milner slides in to win the ball of Messi in the last 16 Champions League tie
Milner hits an early free kick but the Englishman's effort was straight into the defensive wall, which held strong
Manuel Pellegrini makes a tactical adjustment as his team were ripped apart by some brilliant attacking play from Barcelona
For the goal that broke the deadlock just three minutes later he reverted to type. Messi crossed from the right and Suarez attempted a near-post headed flick, but missed. The ball came to Kompany for what appeared a straightforward headed clearance, but his timing was off and he served it up to Suarez. Needing no second invitation this time, he lashed it past Hart. Barcelona then threatened to close the tie out at the quarter-way stage.
Suarez could have put them further ahead after 26 minutes when some audacious skill in the centre of the pitch by Messi and a perfectly weighted through pass from Neymar left him with only Hart to beat. He was thwarted attempting to put the ball through the goalkeeper’s legs. Had he succeeded it would have been a contender for goal of the season. And any season, at that.
By now, Barcelona were passing as if in training, the home fans increasingly frustrated by City’s inability to get near them. The second was a matter of time, and on the half hour it arrived. Rakitic, bought as the long-term replacement for Xavi and slotting in nicely, fed Messi, who sprinted right to left across the City penalty area, taking out three defenders as he went before knocking the ball to Jordi Alba on the left. His cross picked out Suarez, low,
Joe Hart dives at full stretch but can do nothing to stop Suarez's second after the Uruguayan found space between City's centre backs
The striker, who cost Barca £75m from Liverpool after the World Cup, was in clinical form in Manchester on Tuesday night
Joe Hart expresses his frustration as City fall two goals down during the first half of their Champions League last 16 first leg
David Silva jumps for the ball against Mascherano, but City were unable to create much going forward in a tough first half
Sergio Aguero, starved of the ball for long periods, stands with his hands on his hips looking dejected on a disappointing night for City
Messi, who brilliantly skipped away from defenders in the build up to Barca's second goal, takes on Zabaleta
It could have been more. Neymar was the next Barcelona forward to skip free of a flat-footed back four but his lob over Hart just lacked the legs to carry it to goal. Marauding down the right flank after an error by James Milner, Dani Alves had a chipped shot that clipped the top of the crossbar.
From City? Not much. Samir Nasri forced the first real save of the game at the Barcelona end shortly before half-time, and the second-half comeback was rather unexpected. When Messi’s close control startled Zabaleta into committing a late foul, it looked as if City’s effort had been in vain.
Statisticians in the crowd would not have been so pessimistic, however. Messi had missed three in his last six, and now it is four in seven. Hart saved, Messi dived towards the rebound and steered his header wide.
He left the field, head in hands, as if he had committed a fatal error. In all likelihood, it will prove a personal embarrassment, and no more.
Marc Andre ter Stegen collects comfortably but Manchester City showed more ambition in the second half before Clichy's red card
Dani Alves tackles Silva, but the diminutive Spaniard managed to influence the game with a fabulous assist for Aguero's goal
Aguero's finish keeps the tie in the balance but Manchester City still have it all to do when they travel to the Nou Camp in March
The Argentine was delighted with his emphatic strike but City still had to hold on to a narrow defeat after they went down to 10 men
As Alves holds his knee on the floor Clichy is shown a second yellow then a red for a reckless lunge on the Brazilian full back
The French defender trudges past his manager as a bad night got worse for the English champions against quality opposition
Hart celebrates saving the last-gasp penalty as Pedro holds his head in his hands and Messi lies on the floor
The two managers, Luis Enrique of Barcelona and Manuel Pellegrini of Manchester City, embrace before the game kicks off
Messi and Suarez get off the team bus at Manchester airport before flying back to Spain on Tuesday night after the victory
Messi prepares to leave, but after their efeat at the hands of Barcelona it is City who could be headed for the Champions League exit