CITY pulled off a memorable victory over the European champions in front of a crowd of over 94,000 at the Camp Nou.

A first half strike from Martin Petrov brought the Blues a hard-fought win in the prestige friendly, which attracted a crowd of 94,123, eclisping the 84,569 who saw them play Stoke in 1934. It is the biggest crowd City have played in front of outside a cup final.

Barca do not like to lose in this Joan Gamper Trophy game, having won 13 of the last 14 – and in the last three seasons they have beaten Inter Milan 5-0, Bayern Munich 4-0 and Boca Juniors 2-1.

And critics of City’s trip to Catalonia have suggested it was disruptive and tiring,  just three days before an important home fixture with Wolves.

But the win now gives their confidence a shot in the arm heading into the Premier League clash.

With the thermometer needle tipping past a muscle-sapping 43C (110F) on the hottest day of the year in Barcelona, Mark Hughes and his staff had to be careful how they handled the players.

They did not  risk Robinho, Emmanuel Adebayor or Wayne Bridge, all carrying minor knocks, so Carlos Tevez was asked to lead the line alone, and played 64 minutes which will do him the power of good.

Pablo Zabaleta and Nedum Onuoha picked up valuable match time and Vlad Weiss was given a start which will live long in his memory.

Even though the match did not kick off until 10.15pm local time, it was still swelteringly hot in the cauldron of the Nou Camp.

But the estimated 1,000 City fans who made the trip would not have missed it for the world, even though they were perched on the top tier of the precipitous stadium.

Barcelona pressure

City were under pressure from the start from a quick, incisive Barca side which had left superstars Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the bench.

Shay Given pulled off a fine save from Martin Montoya and then came up with a more unorthodox stop with his feet to deny Jeffren Suarez, with Pedro Ledesma blazing the follow-up high over the bar with the goal at his mercy.

But, as at Blackburn, the back four settled, and as soon as they got men in support of the hitherto lonely Tevez, City began to pose their own threat.

And on 28 minutes they struck with a classic counter-attack, Stevie Ireland’s superb pass splitting the home side’s defence and Petrov racing clear and keeping  a cool head amid the heat and noise to slide the ball home.

The strains of “Blue Moon” rang around the stadium as the home crowd grew quiet, and City almost made it two in firtst half injury time, Gareth Barry heading narrowly wide when Petrov’s free kick found him at the far post.

But Barca upped the ante at half time, bringing on Messi and Ibrahimovic as part of six changes to their line-up, while City took off defensive rock Kolo Toure, replaced by Tal Ben Haim.

That meant it was all hands to the pump in the second half as the Catalans piled on the pressure – they hate losing any game, never mind in front of a nearly-full stadium on their own patch.

But with skipper Richard Dunne typically inspiring with some gritty defending, and Barry shielding the back four beautifully, the Blues hung on with great heart.

They had some luck as well, when Jonathan hit the bar with a thumping 25-yard drive, and eventually clung on for the win.

BARCELONA: Pinto, Montoya (Alves ht),  Fontas (Pique 64), Puyol (Bartra 31, Muniesa 64), Maxwell, Y. Toure (Jonathan ht), Pedro (Messi ht), Sergio (Thiago ht), Gudjohnsen (Keita ht), Jeffren (Gai  55), Bojan (Ibrahimovic  ht).

CITY: Given, Onuoha, K. Toure (Ben Haim ht), Dunne, Zabaleta (Garrido 64), Barry (Etuhu 69),Weiss,  Ireland, Wright-Phillips (Trippier, 81), Petrov, Tevez (Bellamy 64)

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