FC Barcelona players put in another master class performance to reach the quarter finals of Champions League as Man City players, except Joe Hart, had no answers to the breathtaking attacking display of the Catalans. Messi looked unstoppable in the entire 90 minutes and coach Luis Enrique was full of praise for his striker, claiming that he is the best player in the history of the game.
From the first minute itself, FC Barcelona dominated the proceedings and Man City were on the receiving end of the Blaugrana enslaught. The trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar made countless attacks and they even hit the woodwork twice in the first half. FC Barcelona went ahead in the first half with the help of a goal from Ivan Rakitic. Leo Messi gave a brilliant long range pass to Rakitic and the midfielder made no error in scoring the goal.
Messi did not score in the 1-0 win over Man City but created numerous opportunities in the entire game and Man City defenders looked out of ideas in front of the striker as they had no answers to his brilliant attacking game. Excellent goal keeping from Joe Hart helped Man City to maintain the respectable score line but FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique was full of praise for his star striker Leo Messi.
“We all know what Leo Messi is,” Luis Enrique said afterwards. “He is without doubt the best player in the world, but also the best in the history of football.
“To have him is a big plus and that’s obvious, but to win titles you need an entire team with balance and that is what we are doing.”
a At FC Barcelona we are so lucky to have Leo with us. We are used to it now and sometimes that’s a bad thing.
“It’s curious – Leo Messi didn’t score in the first leg or in the second one, but he was still the best player in the two games.”
The FC Barcelona boss also praised all of his players for their spirited display against Man City.
a I expected the Man City we saw. We experienced a match with many chances to close [the result] earlier,a Luis Enrique said after the match.
a We achieved our objective of closing the tie and winning the game, so Ia ll take [our performance].
a We showed a good attitude in an awesome atmosphere. As always, wea re treating [the Clasico] like any other game.a