Champions League Team of Week: Suarez Clinical Again, Pogba Performs
The other half of the eight Champions League last-16 ties are in the books, with AS Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen among those to upset the applecart somewhat with their results.
Monaco beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium to give them a brilliant chance of progressing to the quarter-finals of the competition, while Leverkusen edged 10-man Atletico Madrid 1-0 to leave that particular battle evenly poised heading back to the Vicente Calderon.
Elsewhere, results were perhaps less unexpected. Barcelona edged Manchester City 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium to put themselves in a commanding position in the group—although it would have been even better had Lionel Messi converted a late penalty. Juventus also won 2-1 against Borussia Dortmund, although unlike Barca they have the away leg to come—meaning they are still far from certain to progress to the next round.
Amid those four tight games there were a number of impressive individual performances (although not from Arsenal). Click on for our selection of the Champions League team of the week.
Goalkeeper: Joe Hart (Manchester City)
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If you save a penalty against Lionel Messi, you are always a strong contender to get into a team of the week selection. But it is no exaggeration to say that Hart's stop kept Manchester City in the tie, and as a result he has to fill the goalkeeper position.
Hart was undoubtedly helped by Messi's inability to turn home the rebound, but he came up big for his side and earned the subsequent bit of luck. Bayer Leverkusen's Bernd Leno also made a number of great saves to help his side, but Hart's late intervention—coupled with some earlier stops in dangerous situations—earns him the nod in this instance.
"I hope it proves to be important, just as important as the open goal that was missed straight after it!" Hart told Sky Sports. “I can't decorate the save, it was not that good, but these little things can hopefully turn tides."
Full-Back: Jordi Alba (Barcelona)
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Barcelona's forwards tend to dominate the focus before and after games, but Jordi Alba reminded many on Tuesday of the quality present throughout the squad.
The Spain international put in a dynamic, technically precise all-round performance at the Etihad Stadium, frustrating Manchester City at one end and then driving up the other end to provide the assist for Luis Suarez's all-important second goal.
Alba has long been one of the finest full-backs in the world, and this was a reminder of that on a huge stage.
Centre-Back: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus)
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Only a slip from centre-back partner Giorgio Chiellini prevented Leonardo Bonucci from coming away with a deserved clean sheet in Juventus' 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.
Bonucci put in a fine individual display to keep the likes of Marco Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang quiet, giving Juventus a platform to move into the last eight of the competition. Reus' away goal was the one disappointment of the night, but that should not detract from Bonucci's fine individual display.
Centre-Back: Gerard Pique (Barcelona)
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Something about the return to English air seemed to have motivated a few ex-Premier League players (more on that later), with Gerard Pique one of those to benefit from a return to familiar old surroundings.
Back in Manchester, the centre-back—who has had his share of detractors in recent months—put in a cultured defensive performance, making a number of important interventions on the floor and winning plenty of challenges in the air to help his side gain the upper hand on Manchester City.
The job is only half done, and Sergio Aguero et al will certainly be motivated to get revenge in the second leg. But having Pique on form is a huge plus for Barcelona at such a key point in the campaign.
Full-Back: Sebastian Lichtsteiner (Juventus)
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Like teammate Bonucci, Lichtsteiner's performance against Borussia Dortmund perhaps warranted the reward of a clean sheet. The Swiss international was a dependable presence for his side, contributing in both attack and defence to keep the Italian champions in the ascendancy.
He will need to be in similar form in the second leg if Juve are to finish the job.
Central Midfield: Geoffrey Kondogbia (Monaco)
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On a big night for his team, Geoffrey Kondogbia was one of the driving forces as Monaco defied expectations against a desperately poor Arsenal side.
First, the negative: Kondogbia could and perhaps should have done far better for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's late strike, a goal that looked to change the dynamic of the tie. But the positives far outweighed the negatives for the young Frenchman, with his (deflected) first-half strike a deserved reward for an all-round midfield display—tackling, running with the ball, passing—that provoked inevitable Twitter comparisons with the great Patrick Vieira.
Kondogbia still has some way to go before he reaches that class, but nonetheless this was a top performance in a high-profile game.
Central Midfield: Paul Pogba (Juventus)
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You need to keep reminding yourself Paul Pogba is only 21, such is the impressive nature of his performances these days. He is rapidly progressing towards being the truly world-class player we have long anticipated he could be, and performances like the one he produced against Borussia Dortmund underline his continued progress.
The Frenchman was a hugely influential presence in the home side's midfield, with much of their attacking threat coming through him. He provided the assist for Alvaro Morata's important goal, a fitting reward for the overall influence he exerted on proceedings.
Juventus have plenty of work to do to finish the job in the second leg, but Pogba is a key reason why they will not be overlooked by any opponent should they make it further in the competition.
Attacking Midfield: Hakan Calhanoglu (Bayer Leverkusen)
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Another 21-year-old who enhanced his reputation on the big stage, Hakan Calhanoglu's threat was firmly in evidence long before he scored the goal that separated Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid at half-time in their tie.
The youngster's famed dead-ball expertise was a constant threat to Atletico Madrid—usually no mean defenders of set pieces—over the 90 minutes and time and time again proved to be Leverkusen's most efficient attacking outlet. But his goal came from open play, showing fine poise and precision before rifling a shot past the Atletico goalkeeper.
Atletico, hampered by injuries and the red card to Tiago, may fancy their chances of overturning the deficit in the second leg, but Calhanoglu's presence will mean Leverkusen will always retain a great chance of scoring an important away goal.
Attacking Midfield: Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund)
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Well and truly established as his side's talisman, Marco Reus took example of the one egregious mistake in the Juventus back line to give Borussia Dortmund a huge chance of progressing in their last-16 tie.
The Germany international pounced on Giorgio Chiellini's slip to finish clinically beyond Gianluigi Buffon and snatch an away goal for his side, underlining the quality that separates the great from the merely good—their ability to take the chances when presented to them.
Dortmund need Reus more than he needs them these days, something that made the contract extension he signed all the more surprising. He cannot take his team single-handedly on in the competition, but his performance on Tuesday was hugely important all the same.
Forward: Luis Suarez (Barcelona)
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Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Luis Suarez's Barcelona career to date may have thrown up more questions than answers, but on Tuesday the Uruguayan delivered emphatically to propel his side towards the quarter-finals of the competition.
The cutting edge we all remember from his time at Liverpool (but has come and gone since he moved to Spain) was firmly in evidence, as he snatched Barcelona's opener in brilliant fashion before beautifully anticipating Jordi Alba's delivery to grab his second.
Lionel Messi may have been the grand architect of the game once again (and would have been in this team as well but for his penalty miss), but Suarez was the man delivering the final blows. So often in the shadow of Neymar and Messi this season, this game saw him push his way front and centre.
Forward: Dimitar Berbatov (Monaco)
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Dimitar Berbatov is far too laid-back to worry about making points or defying expectations, but he nonetheless made a significant point as he helped drive Monaco to a 3-1 victory at Arsenal that few pundits had anticipated.
The striker was his typical "efficient" self, leading the line more through experience and guile than work rate, but he was hugely influential all the same. At a crucial juncture in the match his quality shone through—Berbatov taking all the time he felt he needed before clinically driving his shot past David Ospina to give Monaco a 2-0 lead that changed the entire dynamic of proceedings.
As Berbatov told Sky Sports after the final whistle:
"Nobody expected that probably but we are confident in our ability and honestly we deserved to win.
We scored our chances and in the end it was a great win for us. But it is not over. We have another game in Monaco and Arsenal are a dangerous team.
Today, we probably wanted to win more than them. We were fighting all over the pitch and winning our challenges.
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