Barca in the driving seat (From The Northern Echo)

Barca in the driving seat

9:57pm Tuesday 14th February 2012 in National Sport News © Press Association 2011

Barcelona put one foot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 3-1 victory over a Leverkusen side who might wonder what would have been had they attacked from the start.

After the German hosts sat deep to frustrate Barca in the first half, Alexis Sanchez's first Champions League goal, scored in the 41st minute, separated the teams at the break.

But Leverkusen came out with a much more positive outlook after the break, levelling through Michal Kadlec and then having several chances before Sanchez's second and a late Lionel Messi strike gave Barca victory.

Alexandre Lacazette's deflected goal gave Lyon a much-needed 1-0 win in the first leg of their clash with APOEL Nicosia.

APOEL, the first Cypriot side to reach the last 16, showed no attacking intent - they did not have a shot until the 88th minute - and looked for much of the match like they might hang on.

But Lacazette struck after 58 minutes to give some relief to Lyon, whose poor domestic form has seen them slip 11 points adrift of leaders Paris St Germain in Ligue 1.