Both Arsenal and Manchester City face uphill tasks to progress through to the Champions League quarter-finals after losing the home legs of their second-round fixtures to Barcelona and Bayern Munich respectively.

The English sides were competitive against the two European giants before being reduced to 10 men, and those dismissals saw both matches end 2-0 to the visiting side.

Below, Sports Mole assesses whether each club's supporters have any reason to be optimistic ahead of the trips to Spain and Germany in three weeks' time.

Manchester City

Ahead of the match at the Etihad Stadium, City had been tipped to go toe-to-toe with the Spanish pass-masters, with many believing that City's physically and variation of play could be key in overcoming the La Liga side.

However, it quickly became apparent that Barcelona would not be intimidated by the task in front of them, and chances were few and far between as the visitors had their hosts on the run with a sparkling display of possession football.

In fairness to City, they responded to match the Spanish outfit and had every reason to be confident of a positive result when they emerged for the second half, but the sending-off of Martin Demichelis changed the course of the match, and it soon became City's task to stop Barcelona moving out of sight before the second leg.

A 1-0 loss would have been seen as a success for the Premier League side, but Dani Alves's second was a sucker-punch to their ambitions of remaining in the competition past this stage.

However, City have displayed on many occasions that they are capable of being clinical in front of goal, and while they may have drawn a blank in Manchester on Tuesday evening, an early goal in Barcelona would give them the momentum to try to level the tie on aggregate.

Manuel Pellegrini's team haven't proven to be the best defensively throughout the campaign, but if Yaya Toure can be deployed more effectively in attack and Sergio Aguero is firing on all cylinders, there's still a possibility that City can win by a two-goal margin in the second leg.

Prediction: While attempting to overturn a two-goal deficit in Camp Nou is a daunting task, City's firepower gives them the opportunity to cause a major surprise.

The fitness of Aguero is likely to be key, but if the Premier League side can restrict Barcelona to a solitary goal, then Manchester City could take the Catalan giants into extra time.

Arsenal

For the first 30 minutes of their encounter with Bayern, Arsenal looked like a side ready to make the transition from also-rans to genuine contenders for this season's Champions League trophy.

However, after rocking the German team's defence with constant pressure, the penalty miss from Mesut Ozil proved key for both his confidence and the collective belief of the team, and the dismissal of Wojciech Szczesny effectively took any chance of a positive result away from the Gunners.

They fought valiantly during the second half, and like with Man City, they had genuine hope when only facing a 1-0 deficit, but Bayern's late second goal gives the tie a whole different complexion.

With 11 men, Arsene Wenger had his tactics spot on, but he will be required to come up with a varied gameplan for their match at the Allianz Arena, where Arsenal recorded a 2-0 victory last year.

Wenger needs to find the balance between defence and attack and while the return of Mikel Arteta will be important, it's on the flanks where Arsenal could make an impact in three weeks' time.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain impressed at the Emirates Stadium and his inclusion is a must, and if Wenger opts to be bold to drop Ozil in favour of Lukas Podolski, a change in approach could force Munich onto the back foot and give Arsenal a chance of an early goal.

Prediction: Many will look to Arsenal's 2-0 win in Munich last season as genuine hope that they can pull off a similar result 12 months later.

However, the reigning European champions are unlikely to make the same mistake twice, and if Pep Guardiola's team can come through the first 30 minutes, they should have enough to see off the challenge of the North London outfit.