Barça delight Europe once again

Barça have given their fans the perfect Valentine’s Day gift – a convincing win away to Bayer Leverkusen that puts them well on course for a place in the quarter finals. Alexis (2) and Messi scored the goals for the visitors

 

 

The European champions resumed their title defence in style. For the first time under Guardiola, they won the away leg of a second round tie, 3-1 at German side Bayer Leverkusen. And it was thoroughly deserved win too, with the Catalans dominating from start to finish, and Alexis Sánchez playing the decisive role. The Chilean was on target twice, while Messi finished things off with Barça's third. Kadlec had managed to pull the Bundesliga side back level early in the second half, but an outstanding Valdés managed to prevent Beyer from adding to their tally.

The result puts FC Barcelona in a wonderful position and they can rightly feel optimistic about their chances of ensuring a place in the last eight on March 7 at the Camp Nou.
 

Leverkusen, first stop on road to Munich

The Champions League returns at a good time for Barça following the weekend's slip up in Pamplona, which left them 10 points adrift of the league leaders, leaving no time for regrets, as they pick up the title they won at Wembley last season. The last sixteen tie at Bayer's ground is near enough to this year's final venue to whet the appetite for more European glory.

 

The first stop on the road to the Allianz Arena is at Leverkusen and although the stats aren't too favourable for Barça, who have failed to win the away game in the last three ties at this stage - against Lyon (1-1), Stuttgart (1-1) and Arsenal (2-1), they have always managed to turn it around in the second leg at the Camp Nou. On the other hand, Barça have already won away to BATE Borissov, Viktoria Pilsen and Milan in the competition so far this season.

The League is complicated, but not lost

The Barça captain appealled to the pride and professionalism of the team to keep fighting for the League title, until the end of the season 

 

The central defender accepted that Barça didn’t play well in the first half in Pamplona, and believes that the state of the pitch was more detrimental to them than the intense cold

Win games and hope Madrid slip up

For Puyol, Barca must now carry on in the League the same way they did in other years, when they were leading for much of the season. "Before, we were in front and we were forced to keep winning win because they were close behind. Now we must try to win, to put pressure on them to do the same" said the central defender. He added that, although they're dependent on Real Madrid to be able to reduce the distance between them, their objective is " to focus on ourselves. We have to try and win, and if we get there, great, and if not, at least we tried".

Barça caught cold in Pamplona

Barça are further than ever from retaining their league title after losing at the Reyno de Navarra. The visitors struggled to get into their stride in a game played on a freezing evening on a pitch in appalling condition. But Osasuna did a far better job of interpreting the situation, and went 2-0 up early on. Barça came out much stronger after the break and had Osasuna pegged back in their own half for most of what remained of the game. At moments it looked like the Catalans might be able to turn things around, but ultimately they were missing the luck they needed to get anything positive out of a frustrating game.