It was a good night for Barcelona with Alexis Sanchez hitting a double in their fine win at Leverkusen, while Olympique Lyon claimed a slim advantage in their tie against unheralded Cypriots APOEL Nicosia.
Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Kadlec 52’) def by FC Barcelona 3 (Alexis Sanchez 41’, 55’, Messi 88’)
Barcelona claimed a big advantage ahead of the return leg in Spain, with a 3-1 victory in Germany, as Leverkusen’s conservative tactics failed to reap the benefits hoped by boss Robin Dutt. Barca dominated possession and although Leverkusen held them out for 40 minutes, they would eventually prevail with Alex Sanchez breaking the deadlock. Leverkusen started the second-half with more intensity and Michal Kadlec levelled, but the European champions hit back three minutes later and Lionel Messi rounded out the win after a tight one-two with Dani Alves. Barca’s quality was on full show as Leverkusen’s tactics fell short.
Barca boss Pep Guardiola said: “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.”
He added: “In the art of competing my team showed that they are doing well. This is the Champions League and we came to Germany to face a team that practically eliminated Valencia, and we all know about [the quality of] Valencia. We are very satisfied with what we have done here tonight. We are a little bit closer to getting into the draw for the quarter-finals.”
Leverkusen’s Robin Dutt said: “Our defence played very well during the first half, but we showed them too much respect. In the second half it was a completely different story. During the break I asked my players to take the initiative and participate in the match. In the second half we caused Barcelona problems.”
He added: “For the match at the Camp Nou, normally we wouldn’t have a chance but you never know. A few years ago I watched Barcelona beat Basel [5-0] in Switzerland, but they drew 1-1 in the second game in Spain, so anything is possible.”
Olympique Lyon 1 (Lacazette 58’) def APOEL Nicosia 0
It was all Lyon in this clash as they dominated possession and the chances, but APOEL were resolute, holding firm until Alexandre Lacazette’s deflected strike on the hour mark. Lacazette has been a thread throughout and may have scored on a few occasions, while Ederson rounded the APOEL keeper only to have his effort saved off the line by Paulo Jorge. Lacazette would score minutes later to appease the home fans, however they had a scare late on when Hugo Lloris had to spectacularly save Gustavo Manduca’s shot. The result leaves the tie wide open ahead of the second leg in Cyprus.
Lyon boss Remi Garde said: “The game went as we expected. We tried to dictate the pace and tried to ensure we didn’t concede an away goal. “We would have liked to score more goals; hopefully we won’t regret that in the second leg. They will have to come at us, which will give us chances on the counterattack. We’ll need to be strong mentally and make sure we are prepared.”
APOEL coach Ivan Jovanovic said: “They were better than us, we have to accept that. Their win was deserved. My players worked hard and we have the second leg. We will do our best to turn this around but Lyon have an important advantage. But we are actually quite satisfied with the result.”