Barcelona 1 - 0 Manchester City (3-1 agg): Hart heroic but can't save City
Posted Thursday, March 19, 2015 by PA
Lionel Messi and Barcelona turned on the style to dump Manchester City and their inspired goalkeeper Joe Hart out of the Champions League.
It was thanks to Hart's heroics that Barcelona could manage only a 1-0 win at the Nou Camp.
Ivan Rakitic scored the only goal of another one-sided encounter between the two sides, completing a 3-1 aggregate win to secure the Catalan giants' place in the quarter-finals.
City did show some spirit in the second half, and could have pulled one back when Sergio Aguero had a penalty saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen, but in truth the scoreline flattered them.
Barcelona were in a different league to the English champions and Messi was simply outstanding.
One of the enduring images from the game will be his first-half nutmeg on James Milner, who was bamboozled and left on the turf by the Argentinian's brilliance.
It said much for City's night that their man of the match was comfortably Hart, who made a strong of brilliant saves in the second half to limit the damage.
The loss will leave City manager Manuel Pellegrini fighting for his future but even the greatest coaches might have struggled against Barcelona in this mood.
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