Barcelona ease their way past Leverkusen into last eight

Barcelona booked their place in the last eight of the Champions League and ensured they qualified as group winners when they eased their way to a 2-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen at the Nou Camp on Tuesday.

A neatly taken 17th-minute strike from Argentine forward Javier Saviola and a deflected header from Dutch defender Frank de Boer made sure of a comfortable but unspectacular win for the home side.

Last year's finalists Leverkusen, who were already eliminated after failing to earn a point in any of their second phase games, began sharply and subjected Barca to some intense early pressure.

But the Catalans hit back against the run of play after some fine work by live-wire winger Marc Overmars on 17 minutes.

The Dutchman scampered past his marker on the right flank, chipped a neat pass across the area to unmarked Argentine striker Javier Saviola who controlled and then drove his low shot inside the far post to put his side 1-0 up.

Once they had taken the lead Barcelona began to find their rhythm and Xavi and Juan Roman Riquelme took control of the midfield while Overmars continued to threaten with his darting runs down the right wing.

Barca made certain of victory four minutes into the second half when De Boer rose high at the near post to send a deflected header off defender Thomas Kleine into the net.