The art of management is to create an aura, to brainwash the players into believing that they can routinely beat a team every bit as good as Barcelona. It is to inspire, to send Manchester City’s players into the tunnel at the Nou Camp in the minutes before kick-off and look down their noses at Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Luis Suarez or Neymar. Out on the training pitches, where the real work is done, the coaches must come up with a plan to squeeze the pips out of the players over two legs in the Champions League. That is the job. It can be done. Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp took his team to the Champions League final at Wembley against Bayern Munich; last year Atletico Madrid reached the final under their clever coach Diego Simeone. Unfortunately for Manuel Pellegrini, he has come up short. This is no disgrace and there is no need to make his life a misery just because he cannot find a way to beat Barcelona. He just isn’t good enough. Manuel Pellegrini has not taken Manchester City forward and looked clueless in the Nou Camp . Pellegrini could not alter the game or put the shackles on Barcelona as City's Euro dream died . Ivan Rakitic lifts the ball over the onrushing Joe Hart and into the empty net to give Barca the advantage . Read Martin Samuel's match report from the Nou Camp as Barcelona beat Manchester City 1-0 to progress to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League. The temptation, in the shakedown that will follow this Champions League elimination for yet another English club, is to start over again. In the aftermath the cry now will be to send for Simeone, to send for Pep, to send for Ancelotti, or to send for someone else to have a go. The brutal truth is that it’s coming to that. Bayern Munich’s exalted coach Pep Guardiola was here, settling down to watch his former club pass City off the park in a series of dizzying spells. Possession football is anathema to English football. City spilt their guts here, exposing the size of the task to turn the current champions of the Barclays Premier League into a team capable of living with a group of players who can change the pace of a game at will. Barcelona’s tempo is soothing and reassuring. If City want to dominate in Europe, in a way that Barcelona did when they won the Champions League in 2006, 2009 and 2011, then Pellegrini is not the man. That much is clear. Since he arrived at City he has had four chances to beat Barcelona and has yet to even secure a draw. Team and coach are not up to it. City need innovation, a man with stature and the confidence to redevelop the team with some clever signings over the next couple of years. What Manchester City would give for a player like Lionel Messi, and you feel they would have to pay the earth . Lionel Messi glides past Fernandinho during another masterful display from the little Argentine . David Silva resorts to desperate measures to stop a free-flowing Lionel Messi . Messi attempts to dribble past Joe Hart as the Barca man shows his mastery once more . The Manchester City wall attempts to do its job as Messi fires in a free-kick . That dressing room isn’t right, it can’t be when a player of Yaya Toure’s supposed class can play as badly as this on a big night back at the Nou Camp. He gave up on his man Ivan Rakitic as he roamed into City’s penalty area and the ball inevitably needed up in the back of Joe Hart’s net. That aside, Hart was immense here. If this is to be a slow, painful death for Pellegrini, then the job is to breathe some life into this team for the final nine games of the league season. West Brom this weekend is some homecoming. They will need leadership in the run-in, something that was missing from the sidelines as Iniesta and Rakitic splayed the ball out to the wings for Neymar and Messi to slice their way through City’s defence. At times it was shambolic back there. When you come up against Messi, the three-time winner of the Ballon d’Or, it is down to the coach to come up with a specific tactic to stifle his impact. Here he set up the goal for Rakitic with a ball that had a golfer’s draw on it when it pinged off his left boot to meet the Barca midfielder’s run at the back post. The accuracy was frightening. Sergio Aguero reacts after seeing his late penalty saved by Marc Anrde ter-Stegen . James Milner goes to ground after challenging Marc-Andre ter Stegen as as Yaya Toure looks on . Both Vincent Kompany (left) and Martin Demichelis play the blame game during the defeat in Barcelona . Sergio Aguero’s miss from the penalty spot in the 78th minute is no more than a footnote because City were outclassed over two legs. The main man in Abu Dhabi will demand answers, a natural consequence of another premature elimination in the Champions League. To Pellegrini’s great credit, he is always unmoved by the speculation about his future, but the ball is now in Sheik Mansour’s court. Sadly for a man of integrity and honour, he has lost his appeal.
At the elite level of European competition, Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has come up short. Not once, but every single time . If City want to dominate Europe, in a way that Barcelona did when they won the Champions League in 2009 and 2011, then Pellegrini is not their man . City need innovation, a man with the stature and the confidence to redevelop this team and take them to the next level . Pellegrini: Defeat at Barcelona is not a failure, it is a disappointment . CLICK HERE for all the latest Man City news and match reaction .