Lionel Messi and Barcelona turned on the style to dump Manchester City and their inspired goalkeeper Joe Hart out of the Champions League.
It was thanks to Hart's heroics that Barcelona could manage only a 1-0 win at the Nou Camp.
Ivan Rakitic scored the only goal of another one-sided encounter between the two sides, completing a 3-1 aggregate win to secure the Catalan giants' place in the quarterfinals.
City did show some spirit in the second half, and could have pulled one back when Sergio Aguero had a penalty saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen -- but in truth the scoreline flattered them.
Barcelona were in a different league to the English champions, and Messi was simply outstanding.
One of the enduring images from the game will be his first-half nutmeg on James Milner, who was bamboozled and left on the turf by the Argentinian's brilliance.
It said much for City's night that their man of the match was comfortably Hart, who made a strong of brilliant saves in the second half to limit the damage.
The loss will leave City manager Manuel Pellegrini fighting for his future, but most coaches would have struggled against Barcelona in this mood.
City's defeat meant the end of English involvement in the Champions League, after Arsenal and Chelsea's defeats at this stage and Liverpool's elimination in the group round.
Pellegrini changed tactics, deploying Aguero as a lone striker, but it was to little avail.
After being well beaten in the first leg, it always seemed likely City would follow their Premier League rivals out of the competition.
And so it proved as Barcelona set about them from the outset, looking in ominous form as Dani Alves forced a Vincent Kompany error and Neymar rolled a shot against the inside of a post.
Barcelona were relentless, with Messi at his ingenious best, continually wrong-footing City with masterful control and movement.
Messi combined brilliantly with Andres Iniesta in the box, but Hart came to the visitors' rescue with a low save from the Argentinian.
City could not keep pace with the Spanish league leaders and four of their players -- Fernandinho, Aleksandar Kolarov, David Silva and Samir Nasri -- were booked inside the first 36 minutes. Nasri was lucky not to see red for hacking at the ankles of Neymar.
But by then City were already a goal down after Messi picked out Rakitic in space in the box with a brilliant cross. Rakitic controlled superbly on his chest and reacted quickly to lob the advancing Hart.
City's torture continued as Messi, who had earlier been crudely hacked down on the touchline by Kolarov, reacted with great dexterity as Milner attempted to close him down out wide.
Messi simply flicked the ball back inside, nutmegging the England international and dumping him on the turf. Former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, watching in the stands, put his head in his hands in disbelief.
Barcelona almost had a second goal before the break as Luis Suarez, scorer of two in the first leg, broke clear and beat the advancing Hart only for his shot to bounce off the far post.
The one-way traffic continued as Hart saved from Iniesta, Rakitic and Jordi Alba in the opening minutes of the second half.
Pellegrini attempted to change his side's shape, with Jesus Navas having replaced the ineffective Nasri at the interval. He pushed Toure forward, but Barcelona were not greatly troubled despite an increase in City possession.
One good opportunity did open up when Navas got to the byline, but there was no-one on hand to turn in his cross.
Barcelona had the menace to be able to kill the game at any moment, and Suarez lashed a shot into the side netting before Messi skipped past a challenge on a lightning counter-attack but was forced wide.
Alba thought he had scored a second when he snapped up a rebound after Hart blocked a Neymar shot, but offside was given.
Hart denied Neymar again on the hour and City were given a potential lifeline moments later as they broke up to the other end and Aguero fell as Gerard Pique challenged.
A penalty was awarded, but Aguero could not take advantage as Ter Stegen saved to his right.
It was not going to be City's night, but Hart could still hold his head high, saving again from Suarez before the former Liverpool star hit the bar.
Hart saved brilliantly again from Messi in the last minute and Neymar was also frustrated by him in injury time.
Carlos Tevez scored two and set up another as Juventus cruised into the Champions League quarterfinals with a 3-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund.
Tevez's stunning long-range strike gave the Italians an early lead before the Argentine presented strike partner Alvaro Morata with a simple finish to double the advantage in the second half.
Dortmund's hopes of progression were in tatters but Tevez added a final flourish, driving home his second and Juventus' third late on to seal a 5-1 win on aggregate.
The German side gave themselves a good chance of progression after taking an away goal from a narrow 2-1 defeat in Italy a fortnight ago but the hosts were second best throughout at Signal Iduna Park.
Their prospects suffered a heavy blow within just three minutes as Tevez received possession 25 yards out and unleashed a stinging shot that flew past Roman Weidenfeller and into the top left-hand corner of the net.
The early breakthrough seemed to knock the home side's confidence and Juventus almost doubled their advantage after the quarter-hour mark when Stephan Lichtsteiner again tested Weidenfeller with an effort from distance but this time the Dortmund goalkeeper was able to punch the swerving shot clear.
Dortmund gradually established a foothold in the contest but struggled to convert possession into chances and apart from set-pieces, Jurgen Klopp's men were restricted to optimistic shots from range.
Juventus eased through the rest of the first period and Morata should have wrapped up the tie early in the second when he was twice sent clear, but on both occasions he failed to beat Weidenfeller, who was quick to close down the shots.
The Spaniard made no mistake in the 70th minute, however, as Dortmund's defence was caught out by another ball over the top and as Weidenfeller rushed out, Tevez generously slid the ball across for the young striker to side-foot into an empty net.
Dortmund's misery was compounded nine minutes later when Tevez latched onto Arturo Vidal's neat pass and he slammed the ball home to wrap up an excellent individual display and seal his side's place in the last eight.
No comments:
Post a Comment