Paris: Holders Barcelona all but sealed their place in this season’s Champions League quarter-finals after beating German opponents Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 away in their Last 16 first leg clash.
They could well be joined by Cypriot side APOEL, who came away from French giants Lyon trailing 1-0 on Tuesday but the fairytale side of this season’s competition has every chance of turning the tables in three weeks time.
Barca took their time to make their evident superiority tell as the poor run of four away matches without a win appeared to have an effect on the players.
However, two goals from Chilean star Alexis Sanchez, the first one set up by three-time world player of the year Lionel Messi, who also grabbed the third which was the best of the match.
Michal Kadlec had briefly given the hosts hope of earning a notable result, but Leverkusen were their own worst enemies as they missed several chances of their own to leave them with a daunting task in Barcelona.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, who faces an almost impossible task in retaining the domestic league title as bitter rivals Real Madrid have a 10 point lead, admitted his side had taken time to assert their authority.
“I think the second half was good, we used the space better after we took the lead,” said Guardiola.
“We tried to improve our game, we had a few chances in the first half, but perhaps the final pass was missing.
“But we were playing away and we came into the game after the break.”
His Leverkusen counterpart Robin Dutt also thought that his team had produced their best football in the second-half, but not good enough to end a poor run which has seen them win just once in eight matches.
“The defense was good in the first half, but we were lacking a bit of courage,” said Dutt.
“We gave them too much respect and were a bit anxious.
“It was a completely different story in the second half when we played our part in the game and caused Barcelona some problems.”
Lyon deserved to win against an APOEL side that relied on the safety-first tactics that have paid off so handsomely thusfar this season in which they have become the first Cypriot side to reach the knockout stages of the elite competition.
Alexandre Lacazette got the only goal shortly before the hour mark in a match that the French hosts may come to regret they were too cautious in their approach as they kept leading scorer Bafetimbi Gomis on the bench at kick-off.
However, coach Remi Garde was relieved to have got the win and for his side to have kept a welcome clean sheet which was only their second in 12 games.
“We would have preferred to score a second goal and push APOEL further back. But I’m not disappointed because we did the maximum against a side that has caused problems for other teams.
“We found a way to goal without conceding a goal, which is very important.”
His APOEL counterpart Ivan Jovanovic refused to admit the game was up.
“It’s a very good result for Lyon, of course, and they have a big advantage,” he said. “But from our perspective, we’ll try to play better, so why can’t we still go through?”
RANDOM FACTOR
One reason Barca may have struggled away from home is that some of the smaller pitches are less suited to their free-flowing playing style than the wide-open spaces of the Nou Camp.
Guardiola picked out what he called ‘the random factor’, which he said the players were allowing to feature more in Barca’s games this season than in previous campaigns.
‘We have a problem,’ he told a news conference. ‘We’ve dominated the game for a lot of years and in the past the random factor didn’t figure in our play.
‘We didn’t give it any room. We must get back to that level and not let randomness feature in our games. We have to control it by playing better,’ the former Barca and Spain midfielder added.
One bright spot for the coach has been the emergence of forward Alexis Sanchez, especially in the absence of long-term injury casualty David Villa.
Chilean Sanchez, bought from Udinese for some 40 million euros (52.5 million dollar) in the close season, netted twice yesterday and has eight goals in La Liga.
‘He allows us to use the space on the pitch better,’ Guardiola said.
‘He has good movement and he is a humble lad who helps us a lot. Those two goals will be good for him.’
Barca host Leverkusen for the last-16 return leg on March 7 (Agencies)