Bayer Leverkusen manager, Robin Dutt, has appeared disappointed at his team’s 1-3 home loss at the hands of Barcelona.
The German Bundesliga outfit hosted the current UEFA Champions League title holders in the first leg of their round of 16 tie in the Champions League.
The home crowd at BayArena was left quite dismayed after Pep Guardiola’s men hammered the hosts with a 1-3 defeat.
The German tactician has expressed the belief that his team allowed the Spanish Giants to dominate them. Dutt was of the opinion that his team never actually took the game to Barcelona and paid the price by conceding 3 goals at home.
Leverkusen were fairly satisfactory in the first half, even with their game-play being primarily defensive. With Barca completely controlling most of the game’s possession, the German team stayed focused on defending their goal.
Most of the match was played in Leverkusen’s half, but they were successful in keeping the Catalan giants out of their penalty area. However, they conceded a goal in the dying moments of the first-half as Lionel Messi attracted two defenders towards
him and played out the perfect pass to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alexis-Sánchez-c4979, who calmly found the back of the net.
To the joy of the home fans, their team equalized early in the second half. However, their joy was short-lived, as Barcelona found themselves back in the lead only 3 minutes after the equalizer.
After conceding the second goal, the match seemed to be over for the hosts as it gave Barca room to improvise.
The visitors increased their lead in the 88th minute after http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 scored from a move which he dominated from start to finish.
Robin Dutt has expressed that his side were simply not good enough for the European Champions and treated them with ‘too much respect’.
While talking to the press, the German mentor was quoted as saying:
"Our defence was very good in the first half, but we showed them too much respect and didn’t move enough. In the second half it was a completely different story. During the break I asked my players whether they wanted to participate or whether they
wanted be the audience. In the second half we caused Barcelona some real problems.”
The second leg of the fixture will take place on March 7th at the Nou Camp and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 are favourites to qualify for the next round.
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