Luis Suarez enjoyed a dream return to England to give Barcelona control of their Champions League last-16 tie with Manchester City.
The former Liverpool frontman struck a first-half brace as the English champions were brutally exposed by the brilliance and balance of the visitors who dumped them out at the same stage last season. Sergio Aguero’s fine finish gave the Etihad outfit a fighting chance, but Gael Clichy’s dismissal ended hope of a comeback, and City owed a debt to keeper Joe Hart in injury time when he saved Lionel Messi’s penalty.
For Suarez, it was the perfect riposte to those who had questioned whether his summer move to Spain had been a success because he had not scored enough goals.
His eighth and ninth of this campaign provided the answer – and put Barca in command of this tie.
City just couldn’t cope. Then again, few could when he, Lionel Messi and Barca are in this sort of mood. By starting strikers Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero together up front, Manuel Pellegrini showed his intent to put the visitors under pressure.
Attack was seemingly his best form of defence. But it was a bold move that went badly wrong.
Dzeko had a volley blocked by Gerard Pique and flicked a header wide, but home opportunities in a frenetic first half were all too fleeting.
Rather than have the shackles off, it was as if City were bound tightly in a straightjacket, such was their inability to get possession and were suitably picked off and punished.
Messi was mesmerising. Drifting inside from the right or driving from deep, he was a delight to watch as he orchestrated attack upon
attack. He created the first goal in the 16th minute with simplicity, floating over a cross from the right that Suarez failed to meet with a good connection, but when the ball struck Vincent Kompany, the Uruguayan reacted quickest and calmly fired into the corner.
His second goal in the 30th minute summed up all that was good about Barca, and bad about City.
Messi teased and tormented with a weaving run before releasing Jordi Alba down the left. There were six covering players in Blue when he sent a low ball across the box and there was Suarez to ghost in and stretch a leg to turn it past Hart.
Pellegrini cut an anguished figure on the touchline. He had put his trust in these players to follow up on Saturday’s 5-0 Premier League win over Newcastle. But Barca are in another stratosphere, never mind league, in comparison to the Toon.
And they could have inflicted the same damage on City.
Another clever ball saw Neymar clear and he lobbed the advancing Hart, but Pablo Zabaleta was back to clear.
Kompany made a decisive challenge to stop Messi in his tracks in the box, but a minute before half time, a clearance from Martin Demichelis hit James Milner and bounced perfectly into the path of Dani Alves. The Brazilian raced clear, chipped Hart, but the ball hit the bar. City were struggling in every area, but finally tested Marc-Andre Ter Stegen on the stroke of half-time when Aguero scrapped to set up Samir Nasri and his shot was pushed away by the German keeper.
And there was a show of pride at the start of the second half when a string of set-pieces actually troubled the Barca backline.
Dzeko should have done much better when Kompany flicked on David Silva’s corner and the unmarked Bosnian headed straight at Ter Stegen. Javier Mascherano blocked from Nasri before Aguero whipped a curling effort wide. Suddenly there was hope.
And with Aguero that is justified. He scored a hat-trick to complete a fantastic comeback against Bayern Munich to help City get here and he was the talisman again when he took Silva’s backheel in the 69th minute and coolly stroked past Ter Stegen.
But Clichy was late on Alves to earn a second yellow card in the 74th minute and that stopped City in their tracks. Hart, though, kept the deficit to one when he foiled Messi from the spot after the Argentine had been fouled by compatriot Zabaleta in stoppage time.
Meanwhile…
Carlos Tevez and Alvaro Morata struck for Juventus as the Italian champions secured a 2-1 Champions League last 16 first leg win over Borussia Dortmund in Turin.
However, Massimiliano Allegri’s hosts were left lamenting a host of missed chances and conceding an away goal that could prove costly heading towards the decisive second leg on March 18.
Juventus coach Allegri had warned of the threat of Dortmund’s potent counter-attack, but it was from such a move that Tevez broke the deadlock on 13 minutes.
The ball was fed out to Morata, who controlled well before launching a run down the left flank and firing in a shot which ‘keeper Roman Weidenfeller pushed into the path of Tevez for the Argentinian to bundle over from a yard out.
Juventus looked to be in their stride but the hosts’ joy was ended minutes later following a howler by Giorgio Chiellini. The central defender slipped on the edge of the area, missed the ball completely and clattered into Leonardo Bonucci. Marco Reus waltzed in to collect and had enough time to pick his spot against a rooted Gianluigi Buffon before levelling on 18 minutes.
Juventus tried to hit back, Tevez cutting back for Morata at the byeline only for the Spaniard’s header to spin wide of Weidenfeller’s upright.
But the reality of Dortmund’s away-goal leveller appeared to take hold. On 33 minutes midfielder Nuri Sahin had time to unleash a long-range effort that swerved late before Buffon parried with both hands.
Pogba looked far from his sparkling best and to make matters worse, Juve lost influential midfielder Andrea Pirlo on 37 minutes after he pulled up with a suspected hamstring strain.
Yet Juve took the lead against the run of play just before the interval. Tevez collected a long ball from his own half and set up Pogba on the left for the Frenchman to deliver a low cross which Morata glanced inside Weidenfeller’s far post with the inside of his boot.
Juve resumed in positive fashion but spurned several clear chances to put the result beyond doubt.
Bonucci narrowly failed to make contact with a corner swung in from the left after it bounced off Weidenfeller, while at the other end former Torino striker Ciro Immobile saw his angled drive held by Buffon as the visitors enjoyed possession.
A probing cross by Stephan Lichsteiner was then headed on by Morata into path of Tevez, who ballooned over from 10 yards out.
The Argentinian edged closer when he fired a low drive amid a rabble of players on the edge of the area which crept inches wide of the upright. Dortmund saw a rare chance go amiss when Immobile fired a yard over Buffon’s crossbar from 20 metres, but they had their away goal and with it a strong chance.
