Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Dani Alves (Adriano 91’), Piqué, Mathieu, Jordi Alba; Rakitic (Rafinha 84’), Mascherano, Iniesta; Messi, Luis Suárez Neymar. 4-3-3.
Man City: Hart; Sagna, Kompany, Demichelis, Kolorov; Fernandinho, Touré Yaya (Bony 72’); Nasri (Jesús Navas 46’), David Silva, Milner (Lampard 87‘); Kun Agüero. 4-2-3-1.
Goals:
1-0. 31. Rakitic. Controlled Messi cross on chest and lifted shot over Hart.
There will be three Spanish teams in the quarter finals once again after Barcelona knocked out Manchester City on Wednesday evening! The only goal came on the half hour mark when Rakitic controlled Messi’s long pass before lifting a shot over Joe Hart, making it 3-1 on aggregate to Luis Enrique’s side. Before that though Neymar had fired a shot against the post and Messi had drilled a couple of free kicks over the top, and before the half time whistle Luis Suárez struck the upright again. Touré Yaya and Aguero went close either side of half time, but Barça continued to attack, Joe Hart pulling off a string of top class saves from all and sundry, including Messi, Iniesta, Jordi Alba, Neymar and Luis Suárez. The Premier League side had a chance to get back in the tie though when Piqué and Mascherano brought down Aguero in the area with a quarter of an hour to go, but Ter Stegen guessed correctly and dived to save Aguero’s spot kick. A goalkeeper’s night, but for the second year in a row the Catalans had eliminated Pelegrini’s team in the first knock-out round of the competition.