Champions in total control as Sanchez makes his mark

Bayer Leverkusen 1 Barcelona 3BARCELONA PUT one foot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League with victory over a Leverkusen side who might wonder what would have been had they attacked from the start.

After the German hosts sat deep to frustrate the defending champions in the first half, Alexis Sanchez’s first Champions League goal, scored in the 41st minute, separated the teams at the break.

But Leverkusen came out with a much more positive outlook after the break, levelling through Michal Kadlec and then having several chances before Sanchez’s second and a late Lionel Messi strike gave Barca victory.

Leverkusen, hit heavily by injury, set up to defend against a Barcelona side that was missing Xavi Hernandez.

The result was a fairly drab opening, with a Dani Alves free-kick, sent comfortably over the bar, the sum total of the chances in the opening quarter of an hour.

Daniel Schwaab made a fine intervention to prevent Messi nipping in for an easy close-range chance, before Adriano curled a shot well wide from the left channel with openings hard to come by.

Andre Schurrle fluffed Leverkusen’s only half-chance of the first 45 minutes, totally miskicking when the ball sat up invitingly on the edge of the area.

Messi was doing his best to wriggle through the Leverkusen defence, but could not get enough power on a shot through Schwaab’s legs from a difficult angle. But the Argentinian was the provider for the opening goal, flicking a pass over the defence that had Alexis and Cesc Fabregas scampering after it.

Alexis won the debate between the two and slipped it through the legs of Bernd Leno and into the bottom corner.

With their containment strategy undone, Leverkusen looked much more positive to start the second half and drew level in the 52nd minute as Vedran Corluka, on loan from Spurs, was allowed the time to cross from a tight position, standing the ball up for Kadlec to head in.

Parity lasted only four minutes before Alexis got his second, latching on to a wonderful threaded ball from Fabregas to round the goalkeeper and finish.

Moments later, a defensive mix-up gave Renato Augusto another chance for the hosts, but his shot was straight at Victor Valdes. They had another chance to level in the 64th minute when Gonzalo Castro raced onto the ball and powered a low shot at goal, but Valdes used fingertips to push it onto the post.

Leverkusen introduced Stefan Kiessling from the bench and he almost had an immediate impact, stooping to head Castro’s curling cross goalwards and forcing Valdes into a good save on the line.

Leno was then called on to make a fine save and deny Alexis a hat-trick as he sent a diving header goalwards.

But Barca got what could be a killer third goal two minutes from time, with Messi the creator and finisher as he slipped Dani Alves through and the Brazilian selflessly squared for the Argentinian to find the net.

BAYER LEVERKUSEN:Leno, Corluka (Da Costa 90), Schwaab, Friedrich, Kadlec, Reinartz, Rolfes (Kiessling 77), Bender, Castro, Schurrle (Bellarabi 90), Renato Augusto. Subs not used: Yelldell, Oczipka, Ortega, Toprak. Booked: Schwaab, Corluka, Castro.

BARCELONA: Valdes, Dani Alves, Mascherano,Puyol, Abidal, Fabregas, Busquets, Iniesta (Thiago 60), Sanchez (Cuenca 85), Messi, Adriano (Pedro 69). Subs not used: Pinto, Jonathan, Roberto, Bartra. Booked: Thiago.

Referee: C Thomson (Scotland).