Barcelona hold the upper hand in their Champions League round of 16 tie with Manchester City following their 2-1 victory at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.
Luis Suárez scored a brace in the first half to earn the coveted away victory for the Catalonians. A second half goal from Sergio Agüero was the lone goal for the Citizens. It could have been far worse for the hosts, but City goalkeeper Joe Hart managed to save a last-second penalty struck by Lionel Messi.
Manager Luis Enrique reverted to what is considered his strongest starting XI, with the exception of Marc-André ter Stegen in goal in place of Claudio Bravo.
Otherwise, it was a back line of Dani Alves, Gerard Piqué, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba, while in midfield Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets and Andrés Iniesta composed the center of the pitch. Up front for the visitors it was the trusted trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Suárez.
Any thoughts that Barcelona might still be hung over following their weekend defeat to Málaga were put to bed fairly quickly as the Catalonians were the dominant side throughout the first 45 minutes.
Their first chance came in the 12th minute when City defender Martín Demichelis had to lay out to block a chance by countryman Messi.
However, four minutes later there was no stopping Suárez from scoring as the Uruguayan found the back of the net in his first game back in England since departing Liverpool over the summer. A ball into the area intended for Suárez was poorly cleared by Vincent Kompany, and the ball fell right to Suárez, who beat Hart barely before the City netminder could react to give Barcelona a 1-0 lead.
Ten minutes later in the 26th minute Suárez nearly collected his second, if not for a heads up save from Hart, however in the 31st minute the former Red would double the margin for the visitors. Messi played a ball out wide left to Alba, who sent in an inch-perfect cross that Suárez, while sliding right in between Kompany and Demichelis, speared into goal to make it 2-0 to Barcelona.
Desperate to make up some ground and at least get a goal to make the return leg slightly more plausible, Manchester City pressed in attack in search of a goal in the opening stages of the second half. Edin Dzeko was presented with a golden opportunity to make it 2-1 in the 49th minute when a Kompany flick-on reached Dezko, but the header from the Bosnian went straight at Ter Stegen.
Five minutes later it was Agüero who came close to finding the back of the net, only to curl his effort just wide.
Unlike in the first half, City were able to stretch the Barcelona defense in the second stanza, and finally Manuel Pellegrini’s team was able to breach the Barcelona goal in the 69th minute, when Agüero ran onto David Silva’s delicate lay-off while surrounded by three Barcelona defenders, and hammered a shot past Ter Stegen to make it 2-1.
But any momentum gained by City from the Aguero goal quickly dissipated when Gael Clichy was sent off with a second yellow card on 73 minutes for a foul on Alves.
With the man advantage, Barcelona looked to kill off the tie with a third goal, but for all their poking and prodding, the City defense remained resolute in keeping the damage to a minimum.
However, with just seconds left in stoppage time, Pablo Zabaleta brought down Messi in the City area, and was whistled for a penalty. But the spot kick from La Pulga was well saved by Hart, only to see the rebound fall right back to Messi.
With the goal mouth gaping, though, Messi sent a header wide much to the disbelief of just about everyone, giving City a slight lift heading into the return leg.
Barcelona will now switch their attention back to domestic play with a Saturday visit to Granada.
