Manchester City have been eliminated from the Champions League at the last-16 stage courtesy of a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Barcelona at the Camp Nou this evening.

The Spanish giants held a 2-1 lead from the first leg and Ivan Rakitic's first-half strike was enough to see them through to the quarter-finals on an action-packed night of European action.

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The hosts quickly assumed control of the match and were agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock on the night after just six minutes when Dani Alves picked the pocket of Vincent Kompany on the edge of the area before sliding the ball through to compatriot Neymar.

The Brazilian beat Joe Hart with his low effort but was unfortunate to see the ball bounce off the inside of the post before trickling across the line and out.

Lionel Messi was an influential figure throughout the match and almost gave his side the lead five minutes later when he linked up with Andres Iniesta before drawing a smart low save from Hart.

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Yaya Toure looked to provide some forward momentum for his side and almost set up a chance for James Milner in a rare first-half foray into opposition territory, but the hosts were soon back in control and came close through two Messi free kicks that both landed on the roof of the net.

The opener finally came shortly after the half-hour mark as Barca hit City on the break, with Messi picking out Rakitic, who chested the ball down at the back post before lifting his finish over Hart and in for his first Champions League goal.

Neymar and Luis Suarez both threatened to extend the aggregate lead towards the end of the half, with the latter squandering a particularly good chance when he hit the post having been played clean through on goal by Jordi Alba.

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Alba came close himself in the opening stages of the second half before Marc-Andre ter Stegen almost gifted the visitors a route back into the match when he lost possession to Sergio Aguero a long way from goal. The Argentine tried to curl an effort in, but Barca had defenders back to clean up.

The hosts had the chance to kill the tie off when Messi threaded the ball through for Suarez in the area, but the Uruguayan blasted his effort wide of the near post.

City began to establish themselves in an end-to-end period of the match and caused problems with the pace of Jesus Navas, but Barca were able to clear and break up the other end, only for Hart to force Messi out wide.

Hart came to the rescue again moments later as he came flying out to deny Messi once more, while the linesman's flag came to City's rescue 20 minutes from time as Alba's effort was correctly ruled out.

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Hart continued to keep his side in the tie with another stop to deny Neymar, and it looked like the goalkeeper's heroics would be rewarded when Aguero went over the leg of Gerard Pique inside the box to win a penalty.

Aguero took on the mantle himself in an attempt to bring his side within one goal of extra time, but his spot kick was poor and Ter Stegen made a vital save.

That seemed to deflate the visitors and Barcelona had a number of other opportunities to add to their lead before full time, but Hart denied Suarez and Messi in the closing stages as the hosts were forced to settle for a 3-1 aggregate victory.