Manuel Pellegrini admitted Manchester City had been outclassed by Lionel Messi after they crashed out of the Champions League against Barcelona . Ivan Rakitic ’ s 31st-minute strike was enough to secure a 1-0 victory and ease Barcelona into the quarter-final of the European Cup with a 3-1 aggregate win . Sergio Aguero had a penalty saved in the 78th minute , but the reality is that Barcelona threatened to humiliate the Barclays Premier League champions . Ivan Rakitic scores the only goal of the game as Barcelona progress against Manchester City . Rakitic is mobbed by his Barcelona team-mates after his 31st-minute strike in the second leg . Javier Mascherano leads the celebrations as Sergio Aguero reflects on an early European bath for City . Pellegrini , who admitted that talks will take place on his future at the end of the season , said : ‘ Messi was imperious - at the moment we have to accept Barcelona are better . ‘ It is not a failure , it is a disappointment . We have been unlucky to play Barcelona for two years in a row . We have had a restriction on the number of players we can use in the Champions League . ' 'It is very difficult to beat Barcelona , but the statistics I don ’ t care about . ‘ We can not analyse what we will do next season because it is too soon after this result . We can do that later . ‘ It is not easy to play Barcelona . This is the draw , they are very strong . At least we have improved. ’ Pellegrini has been beaten four times by Barcelona since becoming City manager and he now has nine games to save his job at the Etihad Stadium . VIDEO Pellegrini disappointed after Champions League exit . Manuel Pellegrini has been beaten four times by Barcelona since becoming Manchester City manager . The City chief claims the heavy Christmas fixture schedule is the reason behind the failure of a single English team to reach the quarter-final of the competition . Pellegrini added : ‘ It is difficult to analyse because the Premier League is strong , with money and very good players . ‘ We play so many games in December and January and we are not fresh in February . In Spain , Italy and Germany they stop playing . Last year we played nine games in December and nine in January , and that was before we played Barcelona . ' City keeper Joe Hart was easily their best player and it was his immense contribution that prevented Barcelona adding to Rakitic 's opener . Hart , who saved Lionel Messi 's penalty in the first leg , said : 'We 've gone out to a magnificent side , but that 's the second time in two years which is disappointing for us . 'They 're going to get a lot of plaudits for how they play , they 've got fantastic players , but we had a big chance , we hung on in there and we had a big chance but unfortunately we could n't take it . ' I suppose you could say they had a chance to finish us off in the first game and they did n't take it but that 's how football goes . ' Hart made a string of impressive saves , especially in the second half , and midfielder James Milner was full of praise for his team-mate 's performance . 'There are not too many words you can say , ' Milner said . 'It 's incredible really . Joe Hart was in inspired form against Barcelona , pictured here saving from man-of-the-moment Messi . The Manchester City and England No 1 foils Messi to prevent the striker from doubling Barcelona 's lead . Messi pays tribute to Hart at the final whistle following his heroic display in the Manchester City goal . 'He 's showed again what a great keeper he is and it 's not the first time he 's done that for us in Europe . He gave us that chance with the penalty ( in the first leg ) . They could have been out of sight by then and he gave us a chance to still be in it . 'He was amazing tonight and deserves everything that gets said about him . ' Hart added : 'It was busy . I just tried to smother them as best I could because I know full well they 're thinking they 've got to pass at all times . ' I tried to rush him for the goal , I thought he took it well . From there my job is to rush them , with quality players it 's difficult to do sometimes , and I got a bit of luck on my side . ' I do n't know how Neymar 's stayed out in the first minute but that 's football . We did our best to stay in it and were just unfortunate tonight . '
Manuel Pellegrini said Manchester City had been outclassed by Barcelona . Ivan Rakitic scored the only goal of the game as Barcelona progressed . Pellegrini said Man City were unlucky to play Barca for Christmas . And boss claims hectic two years in a row scheudle has hindered English teams . READ : The writing 's on the wall for Pellegrini as Barcelona outclass City .