Edin Dzeko has pointed to the relentless nature of the Premier League as part of the reason for Manchester City's continuing problems in Europe. Manuel Pellegrini's side trail Barcelona 2-1 ahead of their Champions League last 16 return leg at the Nou Camp with a quarter final place looking beyond them for a fourth consecutive season. The Bosnia international believes the ultra-competitive domestic campaign has left players from English clubs feeling fatigued before playing European fixtures. Edin Dzeko believes English players are left exhausted by hard fought games in the Premier League . The Bosnia international couldn't find the net in City's shock 1-0 defeat by Burnley on Saturday . 'In all the other leagues, there is too big a gap between the top teams and the others - there are one, two, maybe three teams fighting for the title,' he told Goal.com. 'In England there are six or seven teams that can become champions and, as well, teams from the bottom can beat the top teams. 'That is one of the reasons why English teams sometime fail in Europe. With the Premier League as the strongest league in the world, every match is hard. Luis Suarez returned to England to score both goals in Barcelona's 2-1 defeat of Manchester City . City's Champions League hopes would be practically over had Joe Hart not saved Lionel Messi's late penalty . 'You cannot rest players, you always have to play full strength, while opponents in Europe can sometime rest some players in their domestic leagues. 'The first leg against Barcelona was very important,' the forward added. 'We tried not to lose at home but we were not good, especially in the first half. In the second half, we played better, scored, had a few chances to score more and who knows what would have happened if we didn't receive the red card? 'Now we want to surprise Barcelona. It will be tight until the end; we want to play much better than in the first leg and we will see if it will be enough to progress.' Dzeko faces competition for a starting role at the Nou Camp from new signing Wilfried Bony .
Manchester City face Barcelona in Champions League last 16 decider . Edin Dzeko believes fighting for every game in Premier League leaves players exhausted for Europe . The Bosnia international is hoping to pull a surprise at the Nou Camp .