Manchester City are improving in Europe

Sergio Aguero's goal has kept City in the tie

Alex Johnson seems to think that Manchester City are improving in Europe but is she right?

Two years, two last-16 ties against Barcelona.

Manchester City are still desperately try to prove their credentials against Europe's best. But if we use these their two games in the past two years against Barcelona in the Champions League as a barometer of just how far City have come, we'll see there are encouraging signs.

They will take a first-leg deficit to Spain in three weeks, just as they did a year before. However, this year they are only 2-1 down - although Lionel Messi's penalty miss and an awful open-net fluff from the rebound does flatter the scoreline.

Last year, just as this year, Barcelona dominated possession - which they do against nearly every team in the world. But they didn't dominate as much this year; 68% possession in 2014, 62% possession in 2015.

City will also be encouraged by the amount of shots they engineered compared to last year: 12 in 2015, only 9 in 2014 (Barcelona did also have more shots in this game). These are small statistical margins but they prove, like the scoreline does, that City are getting better.

Then there are the red cards; one in each game against Barcelona so far. They skew the stats and City will certainly believe that if they keep 11 men on the pitch they could match Messi and co.

Moving away from this fixture specifically, their performances in the group stages showed a greater maturity and a lot more fight. This is another suggestion that City are starting to find their feet amongst such illustrious peers.

The defeat away in Germany against Bayern Munich at the start of the group stage was crushing but only because of the manner of the late winner. There were positives to be identified that night which would hint at what was to come. The length of time they contained the German champions and their ability to keep themselves in the game proved to be character building. They have managed to continue this theme throughout this year's competition to date and we are seeing it again.

Keeping yourself alive in the competition is what allows teams to progress; something Jose Mourinho will testify to.

They are just in the tie against Barcelona, as Manuel Pellegrini states: "It would have been very difficult at 3-1. We still have the chance to do it."

They have a very slim hope (only one team has scored twice at the Nou Camp this season and they were Villarreal who still lost 3-2) but they only had a slim hope of qualifying when 2-1 down against Bayern; and we all know what happened then.

City are benefiting from recent experiences in this competition and they are becoming more resolute. They never give up and that is helping them stay alive.

The gap in quality is perhaps another matter. For periods against Barcelona this week they couldn't get near them. But, up until the Gael Clichy sending off, they were causing Barcelona problems. Not as fluently as the Catalans were causing City issues, but problems nevertheless.

They will be boosted by the return of Yaya Toure because their midfield did seem a little redundant for periods at the Etihad and if they take the game to Barcelona and get an early goal, who knows.

The bottom line is, Manchester City are looking better equipped to take on the big boys. They ran Bayern close away from home before beating them at home. They also defeated a very competent Roma side in the Italian capital so they are proving they can beat the top teams.

They still have some way to go but constantly playing against the best teams will probably help them in the long term, it just means that it might be another early exit in the short term.

Probably not ideal for the future of Pellegrini but that's another matter.