The Champions League returned to action on Tuesday night as the knockout round got under way and little seemed to have changed as Barcelona once again produced the best football of the night. The Catalans prevailed 3-1 against a spirited Bayer Leverkusen side at the Bay Arena in the 1st leg of their round of 16 tie and Pep Guardiola’s men now take three away goals into the 2nd leg at home. Alexis Sanchez put Barca in the lead just before the end of an otherwise quiet first half. The game came into life after the restart as Leverkusen broke free from their shackles to attack, which made for a very open game, especially after Michal Kadlec equalized on 52 minutes.
But Barcelona regained their lead a few minutes later through Sanchez once again. Leverkusen didn’t give up though as they created numerous chances, with Victor Valdes being forced into multiple fine saves. Barca then needed Lionel Messi to seal the game as the Argentine magician scored in the 88th minute to cap off a satisfying evening’s work for the defending Champions.
An injury-ravaged Leverkusen started in a 4-1-4-1 formation with Andre Schurrle as the lone man up front. While Stefan Reiartz was the shield in front of the back four, Gonzalo Castro, Simon Rolfes, Lars Bender and Renato Augusto formed the four man attacking midfield in front of him. At the back it was Daniel Schwaab and Manuel Friedrich in the centre and Vedran Corluka and Michal Kadlec in the wide areas.
Pep Guardiola welcomed back Sergio Busquets to the starting line-up, but Gerald Pique and Xavi Hernandez failed to make the squad. Javier Mascherano and Carles Puyol started in the centre of defence while Eric Abidal and Dani Alves were the starting full-backs. In midfield, Cesc Fabregas and Andres Iniesta joined Busquets while in attack it was Lionel Messi, Adriano and Alexis Sanchez.
The Germans set out to frustrate the defending Champions as they sat deep to prevent Barca from playing around them. The visitors took a while to get into their passing rhythm as they missed their ringleader Xavi. A cute free-kick manoeuvre between Messi and Alves aside there were no real goal scoring opportunities in the opening ten minutes. But when the first sign of danger came Leverkusen’s way it was no surprise that the little Argentine was involved as he almost got on the end of Sanchez’s square ball, but Schwaab made a vital interception to prevent him from putting Barca 1-0 up.
Barca were enjoying close to 80% possession by the midway stage of the first half, but they never really opened up a stubborn Leverkusen defence. The Germans themselves found it hard to piece together a move beyond the halfway line as Barca squeezed the play at the other end of the pitch. The drab half of football was drawing to a close when Barca finally found their magic touch as Messi and Sanchez combined beautifully to put the visitors in the lead going into the break. Messi released Sanchez down the right with a delightful through ball over the Leverkusen defence and the winger beat the offside trap to collect the pass before firing it past Bernd Leno in goal.
Leverkusen needed to push further forward if they were going to get something out of this game and they did exactly that after the restart as they finally spent time in the opposing half. The first real opportunity of the 2nd half saw Friedrich almost get on the end of a free-kick in a dangerous area, but Puyol did just enough to deflect the ball away from the defender. Leverkusen were then scored in the 52nd minute as Kadlec’s header brought them on level terms. After a spell of possession just outside Barca’s box, the ball bounced towards Corluka on the right. The Croatian went to the by-line before dinking a deep ball into the box and Kadlec rose above his man to head the ball across Victor Valdes.
It was game-on at that moment as the home side were roared on by their vociferous fans. But Barca regained their lead a mere three minutes later as Sanchez rounded off the keeper to tap-in from the right for his 2nd of the evening. Fabregas played a wonderful through ball between the defenders for Sanchez, who once again raced onto the pass before going around Leno to make it 2-1.
The game had exploded into a frenzy at this point as Augusto missed a glorious opportunity at the other end less than a minute after Barca’s goal. The ball fell to the winger following a mix-up at the back for Barca, but he only succeeded in firing a weak shot at goal as Valdes collected with ease. Leverkusen were playing some great football on the counter and they once again knocked on Barca’s door, with Valdes needing to make a fingertip save to keep out Castro’s effort. The midfielder struck a low shot towards goal, with Valdes’ save helping the ball on to the post.
It was end-to-end stuff as Barca also continued to press forward, with Messi showcasing outrageous skills as he nutmeged his way past two defenders before hitting the post with his right-footed chip over the keeper. Substitute Stefan Kiessling then almost equalized for the home side 12 minutes from time as he got on the end of Castro’s cross, but his header was cleared off the line by Valdes. At the other end, Leno was also called into action to keep out a header as Sanchez almost extended Barca’s lead with a diving header.
Barca were yearning for a 3rd goal to wrap the game up and it arrived two minutes from time as Messi won the ball near the halfway line, held off two defenders, fed Alves on the right and darted into the box to receive the return ball before finding the back of the net. The brilliant move all but ended Leverkusen’s charge as Barca put the game to bed.
It was a great response from Guardiola’s men following the 3-2 loss to Osasuna in La Liga on Saturday. Barca might be ceding ground to Real Madrid in Spain, but they are still the team to beat in the continent. The absence of Xavi was felt in the first half, but Sanchez, Fabregas and Messi finally got their act together to rip open Leverkusen. The Germans understandably sat back in the first half as they chose to soak up the pressure. But as their 2nd surge showcased, they do possess quality in their ranks and will consider themselves unlucky to not add to Kadlec’s goal. Barca have the clear advantage in the tie now and they should ease through to the quarter-finals, unless Leverkusen can pull off a giant upset at the Nou Camp in two weeks time.
Teams:
Bayer Leverkusen: Leno (Gk), Corluka (Da Costa 90′), Schwaab, Friedrich, Kadlec, Reinartz, Castro, Rolfes (KieBling 77′), Bender, Augusto, Schurrle (Bellarabi 90′)
Barcelona: Valdes, Alves, Mascherano, Puyol, Abidal, Busquets, Fabregas, Iniesta (Thiago 61′), Sanchez (Cuenca 86′), Adriano (Pedro 70′), Messi
Final Score: Bayer Leverkusen 1-3 Barcelona
Goals: Sanchez 41′, 55′, Kadlec 52′, Messi 88′
(TheSportsCampus)
