In an astonishing turn of events, Lionel Messi grabbed the headlines for the wrong reason after missing a penalty against Manchester City in the Champions League. The Barcelona superstar would have given his team a 3-1 advantage in the first leg.
This would have been more than enough to confirm Barcelona’s passage into the quarter-finals of the competition. As it is, the match finished as a 2-1 victory for the Catalan club and City can still believe that they have a way back. Manchester City have never progressed past the last 16 stage of the Champions League.
Manuel Pellegrini is a man under pressure to deliver the European cup to the club. Last season, he witnessed his team falter to the same opponents at the same stage. There is a danger of history repeating itself, but Pellegrini believes that the penalty miss by Lionel Messi gives City hope of getting back into the tie.
The Premier League outfit still have to score 2 goals in order to compensate the two away goals scored by Barcelona. Their star striker Sergio Aguero is showing signs of returning to form after scoring yet again. The 26-year-old has now scored four goals in his last three matches and he will be key towards progression.
"It gives us more chance to win in Barcelona.It was a very important save, firstly because it was not a necessary penalty as we must control our emotions in the box, but also it would have been very difficult at 3-1," said Pellegrini. Out of the 57 penalties Messi has taken in as Barcelona career, he has scored 44. Many of them have been saved in recent years with goalkeepers often diving to the left. Barcelona boss Luis Enrique failed to criticise Messi for missing the penalty. Luis Suarez scored both goals for Barcelona.