Champions League - Barca boosted by victory

Eurosport - Tue, 24 Nov 21:38:00 2009

Reigning champions Barcelona gave their chances of progression from Champions League Group F a huge boost with a 2-0 home win over Internazionale.

Barcelona's Pique celebrates after scoring against Inter Milan during their Champions League soccer match in Barcelona - 0

Defender Gerard Pique volleyed an early first from a corner before winger Pedro finished off a sublime move to make it two on 26 minutes, although Inter keeper Julio Cesar was at fault.

Following the earlier 0-0 draw between Rubin Kazan and Dynamo Kiev, the result puts Barca top of the table with eight points.

Inter are second and Rubin third - both on six points - and Dynamo have five.

With injuries to key forwards Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, there were nerves flying around in Barcelona prior to the match.

The Blaugrana had taken only one point from their last two European games and faced the prospect of becoming the first holders since the inaugural Champions League in 1993 to be eliminated at the group stage of the tournament.

Messi and Ibrahimovic were ultimately restricted to the bench, kept in reserve should Pep Guardiola have need of his superstars later in the match.

However he need not have worried: led by the silky-skilled Andres Iniesta, the home side were too good for Jose Mourinho's Inter team on the night.

The first match in Milan ended a disappointing 0-0 draw, and this was no classic - but the contributions of Iniesta kept visiting centre-halves Lucio and Walter Samuel constantly on their toes from the first moments, the Spain star unlucky to not find the arriving Xavi in the box with a curled cross on seven minutes.

Barca took the lead after 10, Xavi's corner flicked on by Thierry Henry for former Manchester United defender Pique to thump home first time on the far side of the box.

Henry struggled to find space all evening but in the process created it for young winger Pedro, a menace on the left, and Iniesta, playing in an advanced role: Pedro almost found Iniesta with a low pass after Inter were carved wide open by the diminutive attacker with the help of Seydou Keita.

Inter had barely attacked in the opening quarter before former Barca midfielder Thiago Motta was booked for a challenge on Sergio Busquets. Their main outlet was down the right through full-back Maicon, but a lack of possession killed their hopes of creating any decent chances for returning striker Samuel Eto'o.

Lucio just intercepted a Pedro centre after he had skinned Maicon then Javier Zanetti, but the defender could do nothing two minutes later when he arrived at the far side to finish an innovative move.

Xavi received the ball into feet and played an immediate one-touch diagonal pass which split the away defence, Daniel Alves racing on to it on the right; the Brazil wing-back's delicate lofted cross was perfect for Pedro, although his shot into the ground and into the far corner should have been parried more effectively by the usually-reliable Cesar.

Barca captain Carles Puyol went into the book for a studs-up tackle on Diego Milito. The Argentina striker enjoyed little success from deep but put himself about, both during play and after that tackle - a retaliatory barge on Puyol was not punished with a card.

Milito forced a save out of Victor Valdes from 20 yards before half-time but Inter's best chance fell to Dejan Stankovic, who lifted the ball over the bar after the wayward keeper miscontrolled an Eric Abidal backpass.

Eto'o - booed by some but welcomed back by banners inside the ground in honour of his two Champions League triumphs - went down in the box when challenged by Puyol and again wanted a penalty in the second half when Alves shielded a dangerous ball from him.

There were few chances in the second 45 minutes as the game descended into niggly fouls and spells of treatment from the physios: the best of them saw Cesar brilliantly save a Xavi downward header from an Alves cross.

Pedro was booked while more pertinently Inter full-back Cristian Chivu was also shown yellow for a blatant block on Iniesta, ruling him out of the crucial final group match at home to Rubin.

Eto'o was halted by the offside flag on several occasions as his former team-mates left gaps in their own half - and when he broke free inside the box on the left he could only volley high and wide of the far post.

Javier Zanetti was also cautioned before the end as a frustrated Inter chased Barcelona around the pitch.

It was all in vain as the Italian champions' 10-match unbeaten run in all competitions came to an end, while Barca ended their poor recent run of form in Europe to take pole position in the group.

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport

Comment 32 - 51 of 51

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  1. i cant just wait for chelsea to meet barca again,i­ think we are a perfect match match 4 em.i dont even knw­ what inters downfall has to do with chelsea.
    dont­ really care abt xavi n iniesta n messi.remember last­ season was a draw.we comin bac back blues 4eva.

    From nelson, on Mon 7 Dec 9:48PM

  2. Victor, please wake up from your coma another round of­ CL is almost concluded. Hope you didnt bet with your­ life last time.
    The truth is Barca remains the best,­ most consistent team that plays REAL football in the­ world.
    Not the gbam! gbam! follow - follow negative­ football of Chelsea.
    As I said on Monday, injury or no­ injury Barca is always the team to beat !!! Ask Inter,­ ask Man U, ask Real Madrid - clubs that play good­ football NOT the answer to question style of­ Chelsea.
    Next time Barca meets Chelsea it would be 5 -­ 0. Mark my words! In the meanwhile let somebody wake­ Victor up!

    From tajudeena, on Wed 25 Nov 11:21AM

  3. you shld see Mourinho's face. oh etoo sorry better­ luck next time. ha ha haaAAAAAAAAA

    From Maureen, on Wed 25 Nov 11:16AM

  4. MOURINHO GO AWAY MOURINHO GO AWAY MOURINHO GO­ AWAY MOURINHO GO AWAY
    MOURINHO GO AWAY ­ MOURINHO GO AWAY MOURINHO GO AWAY MOURINHO­ GO AWAYMOURINHO GO AWAY MOURINHO GO AWAY MOURINHO­ GO AWAY MOURINHO GO AWAY
    MOURINHO GO AWAY ­ MOURINHO GO AWAY MOURINHO GO AWAY MOURINHO­ GO AWAY

    From mikedrake32, on Wed 25 Nov 11:00AM

  5. MOURINHO GO AWAY

    From mikedrake32, on Wed 25 Nov 10:58AM

  6. Barca might just be an above average team....but better­ than the ones that they beat.......Right???? ....or is­ that so hard to comprehend.

    From Jose Ma., on Wed 25 Nov 10:37AM

  7. keep it up guiadula u are well experience yng coach no­ 1 ll hold u`ha ha ha ya ya ya 2much baca do it again­ usman ya ha ya///????????????????ho

    From usman, on Wed 25 Nov 9:26AM

  8. n so this one particular gooners..!

    From carlamms, on Wed 25 Nov 9:20AM

  9. chelsea fan is like wolf crying for moon.. they just­ dont stop crying, eventhou they knew they wont get­ anything from it. at 1st i thought it was pathetic, now­ i realised its a plain stupid..!

    From carlamms, on Wed 25 Nov 9:19AM

  10. chelsea fan is like wolf crying for moon.. they just­ dont stop crying, eventhou they knew they wont get­ anything from it. at 1st i thought it was pathetic, now­ i realised its a plain stupid..!

    From carlamms, on Wed 25 Nov 9:18AM

  11. You are an idiot to disregard Samuel Eto'o Fils

    From Alan, on Wed 25 Nov 8:48AM

  12. rtdxyron - Im sorry to say but Arsenal are not mature­ enough to play the big clubs. They will choke in the­ league and in Europe as soon as they play a major­ club.
    Please explain to me how is it that Arsenal­ deserved to beat Barca in the finals in 2006?
    HAHAHA@­ you claiming that Barca does not play exciting­ football. I thought the chelsea fans were pathetic for­ not getting over last years loss. Your team was knocked­ out 3 years ago and you are still not over it :)

    From suraya79s, on Wed 25 Nov 8:36AM

  13. Will the chelsea fans please stop crying about last­ year. What makes you think chelsea deserved to win last­ season? they were beaten by AS Roma (who were 6th in­ the SerieA) and you didn't even top your group.
    You­ need to accept defeat as Inter did last night. They­ were outplayed by Barca (as was chelsea last­ season).
    Great football display.

    From suraya79s, on Wed 25 Nov 8:29AM

  14. Not either teams fan so I'll say this.

    Match was­ one of the most boring I've ever seen(like watching­ Chelsea play lol:P no offence though)

    I have to say 1­ more thing
    Barca was with their actual best team out­ there if you remove Xavi and Pedro and add Bojan an­ Ibrahimovic, you can't get any better out of­ them.

    Messi is not all that great, he is weak,­ doesn't know how to shoot and dives.

    Barca­ don't deserve their title, they actually didn't­ deserve to be in the finals, Chelsea did. And Barca­ certainly didn't deserve the title in the final­ with Arsenal...

    And 1 guy who said Barca is the­ classiest team, since when? They don't fairplay­ like the rest of the teams, they do a lot of cheap­ tricks which belong off the pitch not on it and they­ for 1 aren't an exciting team to watch.

    Hope they­ crash out in semis or smthing.

    The most exciting team­ to watch this year is Arsenal. They are also the­ classiest team (if you remove Eduardo divo Silva)­

    Hope to see Arsenal vs Manchester United final as the­ 2 deserve it the most...

    From rtdxyron, on Wed 25 Nov 8:09AM

  15. Victor, I also hope Barca get drawn to Chealsea again,­ and to Man.U, so that we can give you another lesson on­ how to play propper football. And stop crying about­ getting beaten last season and blaming the reff. The­ simple fact is, you just aren't good enough. Barca,­ on the other hand, BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD, currently.

    From toniruizhudd, on Wed 25 Nov 5:42AM

  16. Well well well! Those who thought Inter Milan would­ beat Barcelona, hahaha, so WRONG! Quiet now aren't­ you?

    From Tony, on Wed 25 Nov 5:25AM
  17. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    barca are just average....why make so much noise coz­ you beat an inter side that is not in form....i bet you­ ant english club in the tournament will smash barca­ dead and can you guys stop bragging you won last season­ CL coz you did not you stole it from chelsea i hope you­ guys get drawn against Chelsea in the 2nd­ round[that's if you guys struggle out of the group]­ so they can silence your loud mouths...i hope all barca­ players die of cancer of the groin.....BUNCH OF TWATS­ you can't even beat the Russian champion

    From Victor, on Wed 25 Nov 5:05AM

  18. the comments from barca fans smacks of a wonderful­ relief where were theese comments when you were losing­ nowhere you are are like man u fans haters of your own­ team when you lose on their tip when they win.

    From SCOTT, on Wed 25 Nov 4:47AM

  19. Well you beat a very average Inter team wh ois in poor­ form and you are the greatest again, funny isn't it­ you have not beaten Rubin Kazan yet so don't go­ flying about how great you are just yet, there is no­ doubting you are a good team but when you play a decent­ team we shall see, you have not won yet.

    From SCOTT, on Wed 25 Nov 4:29AM

  20. hail san Iniesta! he's everywhere..

    From gorka, on Wed 25 Nov 12:39AM
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