The Blues goalkeeper and his magnificent back four celebrated a clean sheet against the champions of Europe as Martin Petrov grabbed the winner before 94,000 on a memorable Nou Camp night.
Shay’s Republic of Ireland team-mate Richard Dunne walked off clutching the golden Joan Gamper Trophy, with City the first English side to triumph in the prestigious pre-season friendly.
Delighted Given said: “Barcelona have a great stadium and a great history, they’re a fantastic club, and that has to be the benchmark for where Manchester City aspire to go.
“We are a long, long way off obviously, and you only had to see their trophy cabinet, it’s just phenomenal. We want to try and get something in the cupboard ourselves and build on that.
“Those nights are what we want in years to come as a team and as a club - to be a force to be reckoned with in European football, so it was nice to put on a performance and get a result.
Maybe one day we can go back there to the Nou Camp to play them in European competition.
Shay Given.
As a goalkeeper, Shay was ecstatic to keep a clean sheet against the European champions on their own turf but he quickly hailed the team performance that helped him shut out Barca.
He said: “That performance will keep us going. If we’d been beaten and battered it might have dented our confidence, but we can take belief from the Nou Camp.
“They really came at us in the second half but we got some great blocks in and defended really well as a team. And for us to win there was something special that the young lads will never forget.”
