Barca and Lyon take advantage

Barcelona and Lyon have one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals after deserved first-leg victories on Tuesday.

Competition favourites Barcelona beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 in Germany, while Lyon edged past Apoel Nicosia to take a slender advantage to Cyprus.

Barcelona dominated as only they can but were given a scare along the way by an out-of-sorts Bayer Leverkusen side. Those following the Champions League promotions should remember this.

The Catalan outfit were rewarded for their first-half dominance when Alexis Sanchez kept his composure to finish past Bernd Leno after good work by the irrepressible Lionel Messi.

Bayer, who barely ventured out of their own half during a one-sided first period, came out fired up after the break and stunned the holders. Spurs loan man Vedran Corluka crossed for Michal Kadlec to equalise with a powerful header.

In true champion style, Barca hit back immediately to silence the home crowd. Sergio Busquet played in Sanchez and the Chilean rounded Leno to put the visitors back in the ascendency.

The game opened up as Bayer pushed for an equaliser and both sides hit a post before Messi volleyed home late on to give Barcelona a two-goal advantage going back to Spain.

Lyon were equally dominant in France but had to settle for a single Alexandre Lacazette strike. Crucially, though, they kept the visitors scoreless. Anyone making a Champions League bet must bear this in mind.

The French side had to wait until just before the hour mark to break the deadlock. Ederson saw his shot cleared off the line, before Apoel defender Paulo Jorge turned in Lacazette's effort.

Lyon, for all their endeavour, failed to inflict any further damage on Apoel’s Champions League hopes. The Greek’s first shot on goal came in stoppage time when Hugo Lloris tipped over a Gustavo Manduca shot.

Barcelona and Lyon will be confident of finishing the job in the return fixture.