Barcelona made it into the quarter-finals of the Champions League after a hardfought 2-1 win over Manchester city at the Camp Nou. The match could have easily ended in a defeat for the Catalan club after they were put under much pressure by the Premier league outfit. Cesc Fabregas, who started the match, said that he was delighted to see Barcelona get into the quarter-finals with a comfortable win. As a result of this victory, Barcelona have won 4-1 on aggregate. They won the first leg 2-0 with both goals coming in the second half.
Former Bayern Munich defender Martin Demichelis was sent off in the first leg. In the second leg, defender Pablo Zabaleta was given a second yellow card for remonstrating to the referee. Fabregas, who came close to leaving Barcelona in the summer, says that the club are delighted to win against a world-class team with stars like Yaya Touré and Sergio Aguero. City created a lot of opportunities over the 90 minutes, but they were unable to take them due to some lacklustre finishing. Samir Nasri and Zabaleta were guilty of missing good opportunities.
Lionel Messi once again opened the scoring, but there was good fortune about his goal. Dani Alves was also on the scoresheet for Barcelona just as he did in the first leg.
“It was a very tight game. I think we were playing against a world-class team. We knew it was going to be difficult, but I think it was a great result to win 2-0 over there because it is never easy to go to Manchester and win the way we did it and today was tough. I think we created a lot of chances; apparently there was a penalty not awarded and the goal for Neymar in the first half was onside but we take a lot of positives,” said Fabregas.