Antic glows as Barcelona earn respect

The Barcelona coach Raddy Antic believes that his side's smooth passage into the last eight of the Champions' League will give them new respect in Europe.

"To win the Champions League you have to win with authority and earn respect with your performances and that is what I think we are doing by winning like this," said the coach said after Barça had beaten Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night.

Barcelona weathered an early storm from their already-eliminated opponents before snatching the lead when Argentinian striker Javier Saviola clipped in a low drive after being set up by Marc Overmars.

Frank de Boer made certain of the Catalan team's 12th win in 13 Champions' League appearances this season when his deflected header crept in at the near post following a corner early in the second half.

Antic was particularly pleased with the way his team had coped with a string of injuries. "I was very satisfied because we have had a lot of players out and those that came in performed well," he said.

In defence Patrik Andersson produced an excellent performance in his first start of the season, while youngsters Oleguer Presas and Andres Iniesta also impressed when they came on in the second half.

The Leverkusen coach Thomas Hörster, who admitted before the game that his primary concern was to avoid relegation from the Bundesliga, claimed that despite the defeat he had seen plenty of positive signs in his side's performance.

"In the first 20 minutes we showed a lot of heart and worked hard," Hörster said, "but we just weren't able to put the finishing touch to some good attacks."

Liverpool's meeting with Celtic in Glasgow might be the eye-catching tie of tonight's Uefa Cup quarter-finals but there will also be plenty of quality on display in the other three first-leg games.

Lazio, eager to return Italy to the fore in a competition the country dominated in the 1990s, take on Turkish league leaders Besiktas in Rome. Portugal are the only country with two teams remaining and have the runaway league leaders Porto at home to Panathinaikos and Boavista playing Spanish Uefa Cup debutants Malaga.

Lazio warmed up to face Besiktas with a good performance in a 1-1 draw with city rivals Roma on Saturday and welcome back Simone Inzaghi from injury. The Turkish side is weakened by the absence of several key players with midfielders Tumer Metin and Ibrahim Uzulmez both injured.

Fresh from a 7-0 win over Varzim at the weekend, Porto should have too much experience for the Greek league leaders Panathinaikos, who have Leonidas Vokolos and Pantelis Konstantinidis suspended.

Malaga entertain Boavista after recording their first victory in La Liga in over a month last Sunday. The Panamanian international striker Dely Valdes scored their first goal in a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao and he will renew his prolific partnership with Dario Silva against the Portuguese side, who have never won in Spain.

* TSV 1860 Munich yesterday fired their coach, Peter Pacult, in the wake of last Saturday's 6-0 Bundesliga defeat to Hertha Berlin and a 5-0 home thrashing by Bayern in the Munich derby last month. Pacult is replaced by the former Hertha Berlin coach Falko Götz.