Barcelona 2-1 Man City (agg 4-1): Messi and Alves goals beat spirited Blues on the night and send Pellegrini's side crashing out

Nobody expected Manchester City to be in the quarter-finals of the Champions League anyway. The ramifications of this match, however, could be unfolding long after the night itself is forgotten.
If Sergio Aguero has, as feared, suffered a recurrence of his hamstring injury, it could have serious consequences for the title race.
Pablo Zabaleta’s red card may remove him from a significant portion of early Champions League matches next season, if UEFA decide he made contact with match referee Stephane Lannoy during a stupidly furious protest.
Up in the stands, Manuel Pellegrini’s head dropped into his hands.
He will still be serving a touchline ban when this competition recommences next season; providing he remains Manchester City manager, that is. 

Match facts

Barcelona: Valdes 6, Dani Alves 6, Pique 6, Mascherano 6, Jordi Alba 6, Xavi 6, Busquets 7, Iniesta 6, Messi 8, Fabregas 6 (Sergi Roberto 86), Neymar 7 (Alexis 79).
Subs Not Used: Pinto, Pedro, Bartra, Song, Adriano.
Booked: Fabregas.
Goals: Messi 67, Dani Alves 90.
Man City: Hart 7, Zabaleta 6, Kompany 6, Lescott 5, Kolarov 6, Silva 7 (Negredo 72, 6), Fernandinho 6, Milner 6, Nasri 6 (Jesus Navas 74, 6), Toure 6, Aguero 5 (Dzeko 46, 6).
Subs Not Used: Pantilimon, Javi Garcia, Clichy, Boyata.
Sent Off: Zabaleta (78).
Booked: Fernandinho, Kolarov, Zabaleta, Kompany.
Goals: Kompany 89.
Att: 88,626
Man of the match: Lionel Messi
Ref: Stephane Lannoy (France).
*Player ratings by Ian Ladyman at the Nou Camp
 

The quadruple is now the Capital One Cup and an uphill climb to wrest first spot off Chelsea.
City enjoyed moments of brightness here, but a 4-1 aggregate defeat by what Jose Mourinho regards as the worst Barcelona team in recent memory is hardly  confidence-building.
Mourinho wasn’t alone in thinking this was a tie in which City might come of age. Instead it has ended in defeat and no little dishonour, if UEFA throw the book at Zabaleta, having already banned his manager.
City are hardly Michel Platini’s favourites as it is.
So what went wrong? Basically, it is hard to win the toughest competition in Europe with one competent centre half and that has been Manchester City’s mission.
With Martin Demichelis banned for the second leg, Joleon Lescott stepped up as Vincent Kompany’s partner, and one presumes he will be stepping down once an adequate replacement is found.
He was lucky not to be booked for a foul on Lionel Messi after six minutes, lucky not to concede a penalty to him soon after.
City should have been a goal behind in the first half when Lannoy disallowed one from Neymar that should have stood, and when Lescott got in a tangle from a Cesc Fabregas pass on 67 minutes, the rest was history. As were Manchester City.

One error is all it takes for Messi to decide a game, and poor Lescott was a calamity waiting to happen. He had his work cut out early and City were often stretched to breaking point by Barcelona’s forward invention.
The Fabregas pass, straight, eye of the needle in its ambition, bamboozled him, the ball bouncing off his feet and ankles as if connected by a rubber band. It found its way to Messi, who made the score 3-0 on aggregate. The tie was over, and at terrible cost.
The great ones usually have a trademark and for Messi it is that little dink he plays, one on one. 
We can all see it coming, even the goalkeepers, but everything in their training tells them to smother, to go to ground, to make themselves big.

SEEING RED

An English team has had a player sent off in the last three visits to the Nou Camp (Arsenal, Chelsea, City)

Then Messi lifts the ball over and down in such a compact space it seems scarcely possible. Yet he does it, every time, and the ball bobs gently into the goal, almost excusing itself for being a bother.
Cristiano Ronaldo has that wonderful, arching, dipping free-kick, a real showman’s strike. Messi’s trademark is understated, really quite humble. It suits him.
There was a late flurry of action, Vincent Kompany putting the ball in at one end, Daniel Alves at the other, neither to much consequence, but it is what we didn’t see in the second half that may become the issue of the night. Aguero. 
Horribly ineffectual in the opening 45 minutes and replaced by Edin Dzeko, it is said he may have another hamstring problem.
With City having to reel Chelsea in over three games in hand that is the last bulletin they wish to hear.
Something was clearly up because Aguero touched the ball six times in the first half and not once in  Barcelona’s penalty area. 

City were not bad — certainly they had more about them than Arsenal in Munich on Tuesday — but Barcelona could have coasted this with better refereeing.
They were denied two first-half goals only by significant errors from Lannoy, both in Manchester City’s favour.
The Frenchman missed a horribly clumsy challenge by Lescott on Messi in the penalty area. Incredibly, Messi made no fuss, not even appealing; perhaps he thought the decision so obvious it was not worth it.
Then Lannoy disallowed a Barcelona goal that should have stood. Messi found Xavi and his pass was perfect, putting Jordi Alba in on the overlap — Manchester City’s back line hopelessly square, Barcelona players queuing up in front of goal. 
Alba cut it back and Neymar tapped in — but a flag was raised, Alba decreed to be offside when receiving the ball.
Again, the video review did  Lannoy few favours. Alba had been played onside and the ball travelled backwards to Neymar. Everything was perfectly legal.
It served to make Zabaleta’s  reaction to the one error that failed to benefit City unforgivably  overwrought, having already been shown a yellow card for a first-half foul on Andres Iniesta.
Dzeko looked to have a decent penalty claim, but it was a stupid thing for Zabaleta to do and City can have no complaints whatever UEFA decide.
With Pellegrini already in the stands courtesy of his outburst after the first leg, he is hardly in a position to lecture, either.