Football
9y

Pablo Zabaleta grateful to Joe Hart for Lionel Messi penalty save

Pablo Zabaleta has thanked Joe Hart for a "fantastic" penalty save to spare his blushes and give Manchester City hope ahead of their Champions League last-16 second leg against Barcelona.

Barca won 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium in Tuesday's first leg, but were given the chance to take a two-goal lead back to the Camp Nou when Zabaleta fouled his Argentina teammate Lionel Messi in the box in injury time.

However, to the relief of the City right-back, Hart saved Messi's spot kick, before the forward then headed the rebound wide.

"It was a fantastic save," Zabaleta told City's official website. "He is a top keeper. In those key moments he was the man. After the game I went straight to him to say thanks.

"I was frustrated about the penalty. I thought I did well defensively for the whole game, but that happens when you play against those teams, players like Messi. They are so quick.

"Last minute of the game, inside the box, I probably should have stayed on my feet. But sometimes those mistakes happen. Joe Hart was there to stop it."

City were 2-0 down after just 30 minutes and Zabaleta said he and his teammates were disappointed with their efforts before the break.

"I think the performance in the second half is what we have to do from the beginning in the second game," he added.

"When you are not aggressive enough against those teams it is really hard. They have fantastic players who can make a difference at any time, they have probably the three best strikers in the world and it is very tough to play against them.

"We were looking for a better result but if you look at the performance of the whole game, 2-1 is a good result. They weren't much better than us. In the first half they created a lot of chances, we were giving the ball away too cheaply.

"I think we improved in the second half, where we were more aggressive, more intent. We created a few chances to score goals."

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