Flawless Barca pleases Guardiola - 7M sport

Flawless Barca pleases Guardiola



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Posted Wednesday, February 15, 2012 by ESPN

Flawless Barca pleases Guardiola

Pep Guardiola saw Barcelona put in a flawless display on Tuesday to record a 3-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League last 16 tie.

A brace from Alexis Sanchez and a goal from Lionel Messi ensured Barca are in a commanding position despite Leverkusen scoring through Michal Kadlec for the second leg in Spain.

Leverkusen had frustrated Guardiola's side in the first half until Sanchez broke free to score in the 41st minute for his first ever goal in the competition.

This forced the home side to come out and attack the second half and Leverkusen were rewarded in the 52nd minute when Kadlec headed in a cross from Vedran Corluka.

But parity lasted only four minutes before Sanchez got his second and then two minutes from time Messi dashed all hope of a Leverkusen comeback after he pounced on a ball squared to him by Dani Alves.

Barca will now take a 3-1 lead - as well as the three away goals scored - into the second leg at the Nou Camp and their Guardiola was left beaming by his team's performance on Tuesday.

"German teams always create problems for you," he said on the competition's website.

"In my experience, even when they are not playing well they always come into a game at some point.

"The first half was a little bit stale for us compared to the second. In the opening 45 minutes they didn't open up all that much and they were keeping it tight at the back. We managed to create chances though and to score three goals away from home is very good; we are very satisfied."

Guardiola did admit after the game that the height of the Leverkusen team had caused the Catalans some problems and this would be something to be aware of in the return leg.

"They are a very tall team and play long passes into dangerous areas; we will need to watch out for that in the second leg," he said.

"When you concede, it's never easy to go back up the other end and score again. We were good in every aspect, in defence and attack. We are playing in Europe now and it's not easy to create as many chances as we did.

"You can't expect to come to a place like this and imagine that your opponents aren't going to create chances. The second half suited us better than the first. It was more end to end but that's normal in Europe; it gives us a lesson for the return."

Barca were without their midfield maestro Xavi Hernandez for Tuesday's game but still managed to 72% of the ball during the match.



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