Barcelona make it a clean sweep of Spanish sides through to the quarter-finals

FC Barcelona won 1-0 against Manchester City in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League final round of 16. With this win, Barcelona make it through to the quarter-finals and become the third Spanish side along with Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, to make it into Europe’s eight top teams.

The Camp Nou put on a real show of support for Luis Enrique’s men, who from the outset, showed that did not want to rely on the win in the first leg (1-2). Neymar had the first clear chance after five minutes when a shot from inside the area hit the post following a pass from Leo Messi. Soon afterwards, the English side had their only chance of the entire first half when Yaya Touré made a run down the right wing and sent a pass across the goal mouth that James Milner almost got to. Barcelona continued to go look for a goal and were rewarded after thirty minutes of play. A good counterattack started by Jordi Alba and continued by Leo Messi ended with a chip from Ivan Rakitić, following a perfect pass from Barça’s Argentinian player.

In the second half, Manuel Pelligrini’s men were aware that they needed at least two goals to force extra time and they took more risks. That made it possible for Luis Enrique’s men to find more space to counterattack and they had a number of chances to kill off the knockout stage. However, the English keeper Joe Hart saved all of the chances. The English side had the chance to draw level from the penalty-spot. However, 'Kun' Agüero’s shot was saved by Marc-André Ter Stegen, leaving the final score at 1-0.

In the other game of the day between Borussia Dortmund and Juventus, a Turin side, the Italian side sealed their passage through to the quarter-finals after a 0-3 win in the return leg. Also, Massimiliano Allegri’s men had an advantage following the 2-1 in their first leg game.