Zabaletta baffled by referee’s decision

The defender was sent off during City’s clash with Barca.

BARCELONA: Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta claimed he did not know why he had been sent off as his side got dumped out of the Champions League by Barcelona in a 2-1 defeat at the Camp Nou which saw the Catalans progress 4-1 on aggregate.

The Argentine was dismissed for a second yellow card with the score at 1-0 with 12 minutes remaining after City had a strong penalty appeal waved away when Edin Dzeko appeared to have been felled by Gerard Pique.

Vincent Kompany and Dani Alves rounded off the scoring in the final couple of minutes, but the damage to the visitors’ chances of going through had already been done as Lionel Messi killed off the tie with the opening goal 23 minutes from time.

“I don’t know why he sent me off. It was a clear penalty and the referee is two metres away from the incident,” Zabaleta said.

“There was a clear foul on Dzeko too in the build-up to Barca’s first goal, which he gave as a free kick to Barcelona. In the heat of the moment I ran towards him, but I didn’t show any lack of respect because I couldn’t say anything given I was on a yellow card.”

Defeat means City bow out of a second competition in four days having suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat to Championship side Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup on Sunday.

No ideal opponent: Laurent Blanc

Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc has urged his side to go as far as they possibly can in the Champions League but admitted that there will be no such thing as an ideal opponent in the quarter-finals.

The Ligue 1 leaders came from behind to beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 at the Parc des Princes in the second leg of their last 16 tie on Wednesday to go through to the next round 6-1 on aggregate.

“It’s not a bonus to be in the quarter-finals,” said Blanc. “We need to prepare well, be very professional, but I’m not worried about that. I think the players will respond to the challenge.

“We have an end to the season that could become very exciting. We have won nothing and at the end of the season, what counts is trophies.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2014.

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