FC Barcelona bounced back from the weekend's disappointing 1-0 loss to Real Valladolid on Wednesday night as they defeated Manchester City 2-1 to secure their place in the quarter finals of the 2013-2014 UEFA Champions League. The win secured a 4-1 aggregate win, but in truth a healthier margin of victory -- either overall or on the night itself -- would not have flattered the Blaugrana. This was supposed to be a test; one of the best that the Premier League has to offer, but Barça swatted them aside with ease.
Between the two wrongly disallowed goals, hitting the frame of Joe Hart's goal and a poor decision from the referee, Barcelona could have feasibly scored 3 or 4 more goals over the course of this tie. Yet by their own admission, they were far from their very best.
In what has now become typical Manchester City behaviour, club captain Vincent Kompany again berated the official after last night's match, seemingly insinuating that the non call on Edin Dzeko would have affected the game more than the early non call on Lionel Messi. Perhaps it was the frustration of being outclassed over the two legs? Whatever the case, only a fool would deny Barcelona's superiority over the two legs.
And there are many positives to take from this tie. For instance, the "suspect" Barcelona defense kept Manchester City at bay for the bulk of the two matches and were only breached after a mistake from late midfield substitute Sergi Roberto. Is there enough to hint that we could lift the trophy in May? That's debatable, but what we do know is that few sides will be hoping to pull our name from next week's draw -- and that includes Bayern Munich.