Barca beat 10-man City as PSG rout Leverkusen in Champions League
Barcelona dismissed any notion they are a declining force when they won 2-0 at Manchester City on Tuesday to virtually guarantee their place in the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the seventh successive season.
The turning point of the tie arrived nine minutes into the second half as Lionel Messi was sent sprawling inside the box by Demichelis and dusted himself down to convert from the penalty spot, before Daniel Alves added what could be a crucial second for the Catalan giants in the final minute of the 90.
Barcelona stared with Iniesta on the flanks and Fabregas behind Messi while City welcomed back Fernandinho from an injury. Kolarov was selected to play as a winger on the night.
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The game started slowly as the visitors started to control possession and find their rhythm while they were frustrated by the hosts as City crowded out the Barcelona box.
It was hardly surprising to see the Spanish giants have 73% possession within the opening 15 minutes and that they had completed almost triple City’s total amount of passes.
But despite chasing shadows, the Blues were not overawed and actually created the better openings with Alvaro Negredo's dink just going across the goalmouth and David Silva's sumptuous free-kick causing mayhem in the visitors' box.
The Catalans looked shaky at the back and the Etihad crowd sensed there was a chance, however, moves just kept breaking down in the final throws for the hosts with Negredo’s cute flick narrowly failing to find an onrushing Silva.
Messi got his first sight of goal on the half-hour mark but scooped a right-footed effort over the crossbar, before Xavi forced Joe Hart into a diving save with a speculative effort from 20 yards.
Negredo headed just wide of the target from a Jesus Navas cross on the stroke of half-time as the sides went in level at the break.
City were well in the game heading into the second half, but their chances of forcing a positive result were dealt a heavy blow on 52 minutes, when Demichelis was issued with a straight red following a desperate late lunge on Lionel Messi.
Demichelis desperately attempted to stop Messi racing onto an Andres Iniesta through ball unopposed but brought the Argentine maestro down inches inside the penalty area in the process, giving the Swedish official little choice but to award a penalty kick and dismiss the veteran defender.
Lionel Messi made no mistake as he slotted the ball past Joe Hart for the all important away goal for the Visitors.
It led to an instant reshuffle by Pellegrini, who sent on Joleon Lescott and Samir Nasri for Navas and Aleksandar Kolarov in a bid to ensure there was no further damage as a result of City's numerical disadvantage.
The Catalans then stepped up the tempo as they looked to capitalize on the advantage.
First it was Sanchez who was inches away from tipping in Alves’ slow cross followed by Xavi’s effort who fired just over from the edge of the box.
Neymar was introduced for the final 17 minutes of the game but it was Fabregas who would consider himself unlucky as the midfielder was deemed offside when he tapped home Xavi’s delivery only to be denied wrongly by the linesman.
City were still battling and Valdes was forced into a sharp save from Silva's volley following fine approach work from Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta.
Barcelona however got their second on the final stages as Alves linked up brilliantly with Neymar before firing an effort past Joe Hart to seal off the game.
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Meanwhile, A Zlatan Ibrahimovic double inspired Paris Saint-Germain to a 4-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen in their UEFA Champions League last-16 first leg.
The visitors struck the opener inside three minutes when Blaise Matuidi latched onto a delightful pass from Marco Verratti to slot home.
Leverkusen struggled for inspiration as their opponents dominated possession and saw the tie slip further from their grasp when Emir Spahic needlessly bundled Ezequiel Lavezzi to ground inside the penalty area.
Ibrahimovic, largely anonymous up to this point, stepped up to blast the French giants into a two-goal lead from the spot, before reminding the world of his star quality just moments later when he lashed home an unstoppable drive into the top corner.
Spahic, booked in giving away the penalty, was shown a harsh second yellow card after going shoulder-to-shoulder with Lucas Moura.
Cabaye completed the rout late on after coming off the bench, and Sami Hyypia's team now face a near-impossible challenge in the return leg at the Parc des Princes on March 12.
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The turning point of the tie arrived nine minutes into the second half as Lionel Messi was sent sprawling inside the box by Demichelis and dusted himself down to convert from the penalty spot, before Daniel Alves added what could be a crucial second for the Catalan giants in the final minute of the 90.
Barcelona stared with Iniesta on the flanks and Fabregas behind Messi while City welcomed back Fernandinho from an injury. Kolarov was selected to play as a winger on the night.
Buy Barcelona football tickets and Manchester City tickets securely online now!!
The game started slowly as the visitors started to control possession and find their rhythm while they were frustrated by the hosts as City crowded out the Barcelona box.
It was hardly surprising to see the Spanish giants have 73% possession within the opening 15 minutes and that they had completed almost triple City’s total amount of passes.
But despite chasing shadows, the Blues were not overawed and actually created the better openings with Alvaro Negredo's dink just going across the goalmouth and David Silva's sumptuous free-kick causing mayhem in the visitors' box.
The Catalans looked shaky at the back and the Etihad crowd sensed there was a chance, however, moves just kept breaking down in the final throws for the hosts with Negredo’s cute flick narrowly failing to find an onrushing Silva.
Messi got his first sight of goal on the half-hour mark but scooped a right-footed effort over the crossbar, before Xavi forced Joe Hart into a diving save with a speculative effort from 20 yards.
Negredo headed just wide of the target from a Jesus Navas cross on the stroke of half-time as the sides went in level at the break.
City were well in the game heading into the second half, but their chances of forcing a positive result were dealt a heavy blow on 52 minutes, when Demichelis was issued with a straight red following a desperate late lunge on Lionel Messi.
Demichelis desperately attempted to stop Messi racing onto an Andres Iniesta through ball unopposed but brought the Argentine maestro down inches inside the penalty area in the process, giving the Swedish official little choice but to award a penalty kick and dismiss the veteran defender.
Lionel Messi made no mistake as he slotted the ball past Joe Hart for the all important away goal for the Visitors.
It led to an instant reshuffle by Pellegrini, who sent on Joleon Lescott and Samir Nasri for Navas and Aleksandar Kolarov in a bid to ensure there was no further damage as a result of City's numerical disadvantage.
The Catalans then stepped up the tempo as they looked to capitalize on the advantage.
First it was Sanchez who was inches away from tipping in Alves’ slow cross followed by Xavi’s effort who fired just over from the edge of the box.
Neymar was introduced for the final 17 minutes of the game but it was Fabregas who would consider himself unlucky as the midfielder was deemed offside when he tapped home Xavi’s delivery only to be denied wrongly by the linesman.
City were still battling and Valdes was forced into a sharp save from Silva's volley following fine approach work from Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta.
Barcelona however got their second on the final stages as Alves linked up brilliantly with Neymar before firing an effort past Joe Hart to seal off the game.
Get Paris Saint-Germain football tickets now!!
Meanwhile, A Zlatan Ibrahimovic double inspired Paris Saint-Germain to a 4-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen in their UEFA Champions League last-16 first leg.
The visitors struck the opener inside three minutes when Blaise Matuidi latched onto a delightful pass from Marco Verratti to slot home.
Leverkusen struggled for inspiration as their opponents dominated possession and saw the tie slip further from their grasp when Emir Spahic needlessly bundled Ezequiel Lavezzi to ground inside the penalty area.
Ibrahimovic, largely anonymous up to this point, stepped up to blast the French giants into a two-goal lead from the spot, before reminding the world of his star quality just moments later when he lashed home an unstoppable drive into the top corner.
Spahic, booked in giving away the penalty, was shown a harsh second yellow card after going shoulder-to-shoulder with Lucas Moura.
Cabaye completed the rout late on after coming off the bench, and Sami Hyypia's team now face a near-impossible challenge in the return leg at the Parc des Princes on March 12.
About 1st4FootballTickets.com: Thousands of football tickets are on sale on Europe's biggest football ticketing website: We have FIFA World Cup 2014 tickets such as Group D: England vs Italy tickets, Group H: Belgium vs Russia tickets and Group B: Spain vs Chile tickets. But also other football cup tickets such as UEFA Champions League tickets and Capital One Cup Final tickets.
