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MT 19 FEBRUARY 2014

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Sport 21 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 19 FEBRUARY 2014 SPORTTODAY FOOTBALL Tonight UEFA Champions League 20:45 AC Milan - Atletico Madrid 20:45 Arsenal - Bayern Munich Barcelona see off 10-man City as PSG put four past Leverkusen Lionel Messi and Daniel Alves punished 10-man Manchester City in the first leg of the Champions League last-16 tie at the Etihad Stadium. Manchester City ...........0 Barcelona ....................2 FOURTIME World Player of the Year Messi struck from the penalty spot with 54 minutes gone after being brought down by Martin Demichelis, who was sent off. City had their chances but Barcelona dominated possession throughout and were rewarded when Alves struck the second in the last minute. City had set up well in an attempt to soak up Barcelona pressure and catch them on the break but the task proved beyond them after Messi punished a mistake early in the second half. The Argentinian raced away and, although replays suggested contact by Demichelis may have been just outside the box, a straight red card was bran- dished and the penalty awarded. The hosts kept on pressing but they failed to make the most of their oppor- tunities and they were picked off again as time ran out. Barcelona coach Gerard Martino had said the key to victory was pos- session and so it proved, as the visitors controlled the ball for long spells. Yet City appeared to have been ex- pecting that having packed midfield. Fernandinho's return from injury allowed manager Manuel Pellegrini to deploy five across the middle with Alvaro Negredo operating as a lone striker. After 14 minutes largely on the back foot, but with Barca yet to create a clear-cut chance, Vincent Kompany picked out Negredo with a long ball. The powerful forward controlled well on the edge of the box but Javier Mascherano, with whom he regularly battled, managed to scramble away. Negredo caused more trouble in the box after Jesus Navas crossed from the right but Swedish referee Jonas Eriks- son penalised him for a foul on goal- keeper Victor Valdes. Barca had another scare as Valdes was beaten in the air by Kompany at a corner but he scrambled back to gath- er on the line. Negredo had another chance from outside the area but shot straight at Valdes. All these chances punctuated spells of prolonged Barca possession and the Catalans did eventually pierce the hard-working back line of Kompany and Demichelis. Cesc Fabregas played in Andres Ini- esta only for Yaya Toure to get back and Messi linked well with Xavi and Iniesta before shooting over. Joe Hart saved well from a strong Xavi shot and Kompany bundled Messi over. Negredo had another chance to open the scoring before half-time but glanced a header wide from Navas' cross. City were to regret those missed chances as Barcelona upped the tem- po for the second half. Messi certainly appeared to move up the gears and did well to release Fabre- gas down the left. That attack came to nothing but Messi was clearly in the mood and had the hosts, and particularly, Dem- ichelis in trouble as he burst through on goal. Demichelis could not keep pace and slid in in a desperate attempt to tackle, but succeeded only in tripping his fel- low Argentinian. Contact appeared to be just outside the area but Eriksson pointed to the spot and gave Demichelis his march- ing orders. Messi calmly stroked home the pen- alty down the centre as Hart dived to left. Pellegrini sent on Joleon Lescott to reinforce the defence but recognised damage limitation was not an option and also introduced Samir Nasri. Nasri was soon in the action and had a shot blocked from a Negredo lay-off. Barca could have taken even greater command of the tie as Xavi shot over and Alves fired across goal. City broke again but Gael Clichy wasted an opening and a well-struck Silva volley was clutched by Valdes. The hosts, however, may have had a stroke of luck as Gerard Pique had a late goal ruled out for a marginal off- side. Edin Dzeko had a late chance for City but was harshly penalised for a foul. There was no reprieve for City in the final minute as Alves got behind the defence and fired past Hart. Leverkusen ...................0 PSG...............................4 ZLATAN Ibrahimovic added another stunning goal to his collection as Paris St Germain needed just 45 minutes to all but book their place in the quarter- finals of the Champions League by outclassing Bayer Leverkusen. The Swede was quiet, even off- colour, until scoring twice in four minutes at the end of the first half, converting a controversial penalty and then smashing a left-footed shot from the edge of the area straight into the top corner. Blaise Matuidi earlier stunned the BayArena just three minutes into this first leg with the opening goal, and that set the tone for the match. PSG had no need to get out of sec- ond gear against opponents who are no strangers to the latter stages of the Champions League but froze badly this time and appeared to accept their fate. Leverkusen were reduced to 10 men in the 59th minute, defender Emir Spahic harshly sent off for two yellow cards, and their misery was complete when PSG substitute Yohan Cabaye added a late fourth with his first goal for his new club. The hosts got off to a terrible start as Simon Rolfes gave the ball away in his own half to Matuidi, who started a move which ended with him run- ning onto Marco Verratti's through ball and side-footing a low finish into the left corner, with goalkeeper Bernd Leno slow in getting down. The hosts were looking very nervous as their opponents pressed them high up the pitch and Leno had a let-off in the 11th minute after spilling a cross. He dropped a ball in from Gregory van der Wiel straight at the feet of Ib- rahimovic who blasted his shot from six yards straight at a defender. At the other end Stefan Kiessling brought a save out of Salvatore Sirigu, who tipped his header over the top, but that was as good as it got for the home side, who lacked the invention to break down their visitors. Leverkusen started to have more possession, but it was all in front of their opponents, who were so com- fortable they were prepared to dribble out of their own area on occasions. PSG's second goal arrived from the spot in the 39th minute, but the pen- alty award was by no means clear-cut. Maxwell cut the ball into the ar- ea from the byline on the left and Ezequiel Lavezzi went down under pressure from Spahic. There were hardly any appeals from the PSG players, apart from Lavezzi, but the referee spotted a shirt pull on the Argentinian and pointed to the spot Ibrahimovic's penalty was perfect, fired into the bottom-left corner. And the Swede stamped his bril- liance on the match three minutes before the break. He started an at- tack, laying the ball out wide left to Maxwell, whose ball in was controlled and held up well by Matuidi. The mid- fielder laid the ball back to the edge of the area where Ibrahimovic blasted a first-time left-footed shot into the top- right corner. This time Leno had no chance. Kiessling had penalty appeals waved away early in second half before things went from bad to worse for the Ger- mans. Spahic, booked in giving away the penalty, was shown a harsh second yellow card after going shoulder-to- shoulder with Lucas Moura. The Bosnian centre-back looked to brush off the attentions of his oppo- nent and, although his arm was high, Moura's fall to the turf was theatrical in the extreme. PSG were then denied a fourth by an offside flag after Matuidi's shot was saved by Leno and then bounced in off Phillipp Wollscheid. Leno did well to save with his legs from Javier Pastore, who slid in to get on the end of a low Ibrahimovic cross. But substitute Cabaye made it four in the 88th minute, side-footing a shot into the top corner from just inside the area after Moura had laid Maxwell's cross into his path. It left PSG all but in the last eight, with Leverkusen needing to stage the greatest second-leg fightback in Champions League history to deny them. Barcelona's Daniel Alves scores from close range Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates his goal

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