Football

Barca and PSG secure massive away wins as Champions League KO round begins

by
yardie
February 19, 2014

Photo: Ibrahimovic drives home his second of the game for PSG against Leverkusen (Getty Images)

Tuesday February 18th was the day many football fans were eagerly anticipating, the day the Champions League returned for the round of 16 ties. First up would be Barcelona v Manchester City and PSG v Bayer Leverkusen with Arsenal v Bayern Munich and AC Milan v Atletico Madrid to be played on Wednesday.

Photo: Ibrahimovic drives home his second of the game for PSG against Leverkusen (Getty Images)

Despite Barcelona’s dominance in possession, Coach Manuel Pellegrini may have been the happier coach after 45 minutes of Manchester City’s Champion’s League last 16 tie vs Barcelona at the Etihad. After 20 minutes of play, City’s little magician David Silva, slipped in Negredo for City’s first clear chance of the match but the striker failed to accept the opportunity.

Five minutes later it was another chance for City as Valdes’ failure to deal with a Silva free kick sparked a scramble in the Barca penalty Area. The Barca keeper was lucky however as he was able to get back to his feet and claim the ball before it could be put into the back of the net. Messi came within a shot of scoring for Barcelona on the half hour mark but was only able to scoop his shot over the crossbar before Xavi forced Hart into a diving save with a 20 yard effort. Then it was Negredo once more for City, heading wide from a Jesus Navas cross as Barcelona coach Gerard Martino was left stomping his feet in fury inside the technical area at the end of the half.

The second half of the match was all about one man, following the actions of Martin Demichelis, who had been consistently giving away possession, brought down Messi in the penalty area and earned himself a red card and a penalty for Barca which Lionel Messi duly put into the back of the net. City then brought on Joleon Lescott to fill the space left in defence by Demichelis and almost found themselves 2-0 down when Alves drove the ball wide of Hart’s far post.

Silva took down a ball on his chest and got off a shot 15 minutes from time but Valdes was equal to the task and made a save before Dani Alves stormed into the City box in the 90th minute to slot home a goal that all but puts this tie out of reach for Manchester City.

In the days other game Parisian outfit PSG made short work of their German counterparts Bayer Leverkusen at the Bay Arena. All eyes were on Zlatan Ibrahimovich and the Swedish international did not disappoint. PSG were favourites coming into this game after an almost faultless group stage display and they backed up their billing with a resounding victory. Bayer keeper Bernd Leno was perhaps at fault for the opener inside 3 minutes when Matuidi scuffed an effort under him to give PSG their first away goal of the night.

He almost gave away a second soon after, but Mehmet Toprak was on hand to block Ibrahimovic’s point blank effort thus keeping the score at 1-0. Leverkusen drew a breath of relief as it seemed as if they had stemmed the tide when chances started to come few and far between for PSG, however, it just wasn’t to be. PSG were awarded a penalty on 38 minutes as Spahic was adjudged to have pulled down Ezequiel Lavezzi, allowing the big swede to step up and claim his first goal of the match.

Ibrahimovich wasn’t done yet however, and he lashed a fierce left footed shot from the edge of the 18 yard box and into the top corner to effectively end Bayer’s Champions League dreams. Matuidi was involved once again as his shot was deflected into the net by Spahic on 66 minutes but was ruled to have been offside. PSG did however get a 4th goal when substitute Yohan Cabaye scored his first goal for the club from a Lucas Moura lay-off, two minutes from time to end the game PSG 4-0 Bayer Leverkusen.

Writer: Lynford Harris