Barca on top; Chelsea suffer blues
23 Nov 2012 5:23 AM IST
Lionel Messi scored a brace as Barcelona qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League football with a 3-0 demolition of Spartak Moscow. The Catalan giants bounced back Tuesday from their shock 1-2 defeat to Celtic earlier this month, while under-pressure Spartak coach Unai Emery saw his outclassed team exit the competition.
Spartak showed little of the tenacity that brought them close to victory before a 2-3 defeat at the Camp Nou in September as they equalled their worst-ever margin of defeat at home in Europe. A point for Benfica against Celtic later Tuesday will ensure the Russians miss out on Europa League action in the new year. Messi played a part in all of Barcelona's goals, starting with Daniel Alves' 14th-minute opener, when he dribbled through a thicket of hapless Spartak defenders, winning the ball back twice, before it eventually spilled to Alves, who scored with a low shot.
For the second, Messi was in the right place to slot the ball home when goalkeeper Andriy Dikan spilled Andres Iniesta's 27th-minute shot. Six minutes before the break, the Argentine made it 3-0 when he latched onto a through ball from Pedro and rounded Dikan before stroking the ball into the net.
CHELESEA SUFFER
Chelsea’s hopes of successfully defending their Champions League title were left hanging by a thread after an emphatic 3-0 defeat to a dominant Juventus on Tuesday. Chelsea went into the clash one point ahead of the Bianconeri in Group E but were dominated throughout and found no answer to goals in either half from Fabio Quagliarella and Arturo Vidal.
The champions’ hopes of any kind of fightback were dashed when second half substitute Sebastian Giovinco beat the onrushing Petr Cech in the first minute of injury time to secure a 3-0 win.
Juventus started positively and should have had several goals during a dominant first-half although Chelsea also wasted two solid chances. Early on Cech had to rush to keep out Stephan Lichsteiner’s shot at the back post from Claudio Marchisio’s short cross.
Spartak showed little of the tenacity that brought them close to victory before a 2-3 defeat at the Camp Nou in September as they equalled their worst-ever margin of defeat at home in Europe. A point for Benfica against Celtic later Tuesday will ensure the Russians miss out on Europa League action in the new year. Messi played a part in all of Barcelona's goals, starting with Daniel Alves' 14th-minute opener, when he dribbled through a thicket of hapless Spartak defenders, winning the ball back twice, before it eventually spilled to Alves, who scored with a low shot.
For the second, Messi was in the right place to slot the ball home when goalkeeper Andriy Dikan spilled Andres Iniesta's 27th-minute shot. Six minutes before the break, the Argentine made it 3-0 when he latched onto a through ball from Pedro and rounded Dikan before stroking the ball into the net.
CHELESEA SUFFER
Chelsea’s hopes of successfully defending their Champions League title were left hanging by a thread after an emphatic 3-0 defeat to a dominant Juventus on Tuesday. Chelsea went into the clash one point ahead of the Bianconeri in Group E but were dominated throughout and found no answer to goals in either half from Fabio Quagliarella and Arturo Vidal.
The champions’ hopes of any kind of fightback were dashed when second half substitute Sebastian Giovinco beat the onrushing Petr Cech in the first minute of injury time to secure a 3-0 win.
Juventus started positively and should have had several goals during a dominant first-half although Chelsea also wasted two solid chances. Early on Cech had to rush to keep out Stephan Lichsteiner’s shot at the back post from Claudio Marchisio’s short cross.
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