Agence France Presse
Paris, Feb 25: Luis Suarez scored a double on his return to England for the first time since a big money move last summer as Barcelona secured a 2-1 win over Manchester City in their Champions League last 16 first leg clash Tuesday at the Etihad.
Both the goals from Suarez came in the first half. The second one was a beauty as the Uruguyan provided a clinical finish after Lionel Messi and Dani Alves had ripped apart the City defence from the left.
After Sergio Aguero had pulled one back for City in the second half, Messi muffed up the opportunity of giving his side a two-goal advantage as his stoppage time penalty was smartly saved by Joe Hart. The City goalkeeper in fact kept his side in the fray with some brilliant saves in both the halves. The English team traveling to Camp Nou for the second leg will just face a one-goal disadvantage which could have easily been four or five had it not been for Hart under the bar.
Suarez, who took his tally to nine goals for Barcelona in 23 appearances in all competitions, admitted Hart’s save had kept the tie alive. “I think that is a positive thing for them,” said Suarez. “If it had gone in it would have been a different scenario. But at 2-1 there’s still a chance for them.”
City manager Manuel Pellegrini, whose side went out to Barcelona at the same stage last year, confessed his side had only started to play in the second period. “We conceded an early goal and played very bad. In the second half we did what we talked about before the game,” pointed out Pellegrini. “We have a chance. We must try to do it there in the next game.”
The other tie of the night saw Juventus beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in Turin, in the first meeting between the two sides since the German outfit beat them in the 1997 Champions League final.
Chiellini was at fault for Dortmund’s equaliser – after Carlos Tevez had opened the scoring for the hosts – as he slipped when in possession and Marco Reus needed no second invitation to score.
But the Juve players responded as impressive Spaniard Alvaro Morata restored his side’s advantage shortly before the half time break with an opportunistic finish.
The biggest worry for Juventus will be the injury to iconic playmaker Andrea Pirlo after he had to go off in the first half.
