Barcelona 2 Man City 1: Fabregas hails win over ‘world-class’ Citizens

Cesc Fabregas admitted that Barcelona were made to work hard to beat Manchester City and reach the Champions League quarter-finals.

Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, City’s Camp Nou task became harder when Lionel Messi scored from a Fabregas pass in the 67th minute, before Pablo Zabaleta was shown a second yellow card for dissent.

Vincent Kompany prodded in from Edin Dzeko’s flick late on but Dani Alves made it 2-1 on the night when he scored from Andres Iniesta’s cross to wrap up an aggregate 4-1 win.

“It was a very tight game against a world-class team. It was a great result to win 2-0 over there and today it was tough.

“We created a lot of chances, we had a goal which was onside ruled out and could have had a penalty. Maybe City should have a penalty but we could too.

“We go home happy. The last couple of games have not made us happy, we had some negative results but we have to be proud of today’s result.

“When you play for Barcelona the minimum is to reach the final. We know it’s difficult with the teams still in the tournament.

“Everything is good at the club. We are in the final of the cup, we are four points behind in the league and in the last eight of the Champions League. A lot of teams would swap!”