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News Archive

Champions League, round of 16, first leg

Bayer Leverkusen 1 – Atlético Madrid 0

Atlético Madrid have an uphill battle to stay in the competition after they were beaten 1-0 by Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday evening. It was a hard fought match with few chances, the best in the first half a couple of efforts by Spahic, the first cleared off the line by Mandzukic and the second rattling the crossbar, and an effort by Tiago on the stroke of half time following a corner which Leno kept out. Some ten minutes in to the second half Calhanoglu got what was to prove the only goal after picking up Bellarabi’s back-heel pass, and the striker brought a good save out of Moyà soon afterwards with a well struck free kick. Simeone turned to Fernando Torres, who almost immediately tested Leno again with a shot on the turn, and then headed the ball into an empty net from a Griezmann corner only for the referee to rule that the ball had swung out of play. A few minutes later Tiago was sent off after picking up a second booking, and Atlético held on after that to protect the result, Moyà making further saves from Drmic and Papadopoulos . (25.02.15)

Manchester City 1 - Barcelona 2

Barcelona are looking good for a place in the quarter finals after beating Manchester City 1-2 on Tuesday night. The two sides were meeting for the second season in a row at this stage, and once again the Catalans were on top, Luis Suárez shooting wide early on before opening the scoring after Kompany failed to clear Messi’s centre. With half an hour on the clock Suárez got his second of the night, sliding a shot past Hart from a Jordi Alba cross, and before the break Neymar and Messi both had efforts blocked, and Dani Alves chipped an angled shot onto the crossbar. Ter Stegen didn’t have a real save to make until Nasri tested him on the stroke of half time, although soon after the restart he had to keep out a Dzeko header, and Nasri, Dzeko and Aguero all went close. Rakitic responded with a couple of long shots, but with twenty minutes to go Aguero picked up a David Silva assist and ran on to beat the keeper. However soon afterwards Clichy got himself sent off for a second bookable offence, and Messi had a strike disallowed for a borderline offside before winning an injury time penalty off Zabaleta. Hart guessed correctly though to save Messi’s spot kick, and the forward headed the rebound wide of the mark. (24.02.15)