Barca beat City 1-0 to advance to CL qtrs

AP, Barcelona :
Lionel Messi helped Barcelona to a convincing 1-0 win over Manchester City on Wednesday that only goalkeeper Joe Hart prevented from becoming a rout, as the Spanish hosts reached the Champions League quarterfinals for a record eighth consecutive season.
Faced with the daunting task of overturning a 2-1 first-leg loss, Manuel Pellegrini’s City needed an inspired showing from Hart just to avoid a thrashing as Messi and Neymar ran amok at Camp Nou.
A superb pass by Messi for Ivan Rakitic allowed the midfielder to score in the 31st-minute of a lopsided first half that saw Neymar and Luis Suarez hit the woodwork for the home side, while a rattled City racked up four bookings to one shot on goal.
City’s only chance of a lifeline came with a penalty in the 78th minute, but Barcelona keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen saved Sergio Aguero’s spot-kick.
“It was a great game,” Messi said. “We are confident, important things are head for us. I’m enjoying this moment just like the rest of the team.”
City has now lost to Barcelona at this stage of the competition for two years in a row, and is still waiting to make its first appearance in the final eight of Europe’s top-tier tournament.
“I don’t feel it as a failure, I feel it as a disappointment,” Pellegrini said. “It’s frustrating. But Barcelona is the better team.”
The contest also highlighted the gulf that has opened up between Spanish and English football at the highest level of club football.
With Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid also through, Spain now has three teams in the quarterfinals for a third season in a row. By contrast, after having a quarterfinalist each year from 1997-2012, England has none for a second time in three seasons.
Juventus also advanced on Wednesday after winning 3-0 at Borussia Dortmund and 5-1 on aggregate in the night’s other game.
City’s sloppy start almost cost it dearly.
Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola took his seat just in time to see his former team nearly open the scoring when Dani Alves recovered the ball from Vincent Kompany inside City’s area. His pass found Neymar, but the Brazilian’s shot hit one post and squirmed along the goalline before turning past the other upright.
While City’s showed early jitters, Barcelona displayed its usual flair and Messi drew the first of 10 saves made by Hart.
“We should have won by a greater margin,” Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said. “We had countless chances, something which is not normal in a game with this level of tension. We didn’t finish them off because we had a spectacular Hart in front of us.”