By Giulio Ricciardi
Champions League — Barcelona 1-0 Man City (3-1 Agg.): Barcelona booked its place to the Champions League quarterfinals with a 1-0 win over Manchester City. Led by Messi, the Catalan side never really looked threatened during the match despite scoring only one goal.
Barcelona has had a very successful second half of the season after its initial struggle this year. The club has won 17 out of its 19 games in 2015 and claimed first place in La Liga.
Meanwhile, Man City is in the race for the Premier League title alongside Chelsea and Manchester United. The current Premier League champions are in second place behind Mourinho’s Chelsea, which is in the lead for the coveted title. In Europe, City has seemed to struggle over the years despite the club spending large sums to build a strong team. In contrast, this Barcelona side has had the experience of winning and competing in the competition year after year. The pressure is always on for the club, as it is expected to be challenging for the title every year.
In the first leg, Barcelona triumphed 2-1 away from home at the Etihad Stadium and picked up two crucial away goals. The result never really looked in doubt for the 2010 Champions League winners. At the Camp Nou, the match was all about Messi. The perennial Ballon D’or winner and 2014 World Cup finalist put on a show against Man City. The opposing side always looked a step slower than Messi as he was passing and dribbling all around the City defenders. He showed brilliance when he crossed a ball into the box and found Rakitic with no defenders around him. The summer signing made no mistake in chipping the ball past Joe Hart and sending Barcelona to the quarterfinals.
The club could have easily gone through by four goals had it not been for the heroics of Man City keeper Joe Hart, who gave City some semblance of hope. The English keeper denied Barcelona on multiple occasions and saved City some sort of dignity with the score line.
Borussia Dortmund 0-3 Juventus (1-5 Agg.): Juventus shocked Borussia Dortmund at home to book its place in the Champions League quarterfinals. Former Man City forward Carlos Tevez led Juventus with two goals and an assist to cap off a magical night for the Argentine forward and for the Italian club.
The two clubs have had vastly different seasons this year in terms of success. Dortmund has had a downright awful season where at one point, it was in last place in Bundesliga. Despite being a Champions League finalist only two years ago, the German club has certainly lost something this season.
The club has recovered from its abysmal start and is now rising up the table. While Borussia Dortmund has collapsed in the Bundesliga this season, Juventus has continued to dominate Serie A. The three-time champions are on the verge of adding a fourth straight title to their collection and their first title without former coach Antonio Conte.
In the first leg, Juventus won 2-1 at home, which left the second leg an open affair. Dortmund managed to score a crucial away goal that gave it a clear advantage coming into the match at home. However, Juventus opened up the floodgates immediately through Carlos Tevez, who scored a long range goal to put Juve in front. Juve allowed Dortmund to keep possession but limited its opportunities on goal.
Dortmund was able to keep the ball but didn’t make anything out of it, and thus Juve would end up scoring. It scored twice in the second half through Morata and Tevez in a rout of Dortmund that secured its advancement to the next round of the Champions League.
