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Barcelona’s Ivan Rakitic (centre) celebrates his goal with (L-R) Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez

Barcelona – Ivan Rakitic struck the only goal as a Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona sealed a place in the last eight of the Champions League with a 1-0 victory over Manchester City on Wednesday. The Argentine has been in blistering form for the Catalan side and he delighted the home fans in a packed Nou Camp, relentlessly teasing the City players with his party tricks as Barca completed a 3-1 aggregate victory.

Holding the advantage from the first leg, Barca could afford to sit back and hit the Premier League side on the break.

City struggled badly in defence against Barca’s pace and movement, with the breakthrough coming after 31 minutes when Messi found Rakitic, who coolly lobbed the ball over visiting keeper Joe Hart.

Barca also hit the woodwork through Neymar and Luis Suarez, and keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen saved a Sergio Aguero penalty in a victory that enabled them to reach the quarter-finals for a record eighth successive year.

It is the second straight year that City have been knocked out by Barcelona at this stage and it means there will be no English representative in the quarter-finals of Europe’s elite competition. – AFP.