Barcelona secured their first UEFA Champions League win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Dynamo Kiev.
Defending champions top Group F with comfortable win
Barcelona secured their first UEFA Champions League win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday.
Lionel Messi gave the defending champions the lead with a typically precise finish in the first half before substitute Pedro Rodriguez sealed the three points after capping off a smart move as the Catalan giants top Group F.
Both sides came into the Camp Nou contest knowing a win would send them top of the group following Inter Milan's draw in Russia to Rubin Kazan earlier in the day.
Mix-up
Andriy Shevchenko was celebrating his 33rd birthday at the ground where he famously grabbed a hat-trick and the Kiev striker had the chance to score in the ninth minute after Gerard Pique and Carlos Puyol went for the same ball, but the veteran marksman blasted his shot over the bar.
Andres Iniesta and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were the stand-out players for the Spanish champions in the opening period and the pair combined in the 14th minute and Iniesta saw his protests for a penalty waved away by Dutch official Bjorn Kuipers.
Dynamo's best chances of the match came back-to-back in the 20th minute when Ayila Yussuf lacked the decisive touch for a tap-in before Ognjen Vukojevic's blast from 18 yards was deflected off his own player narrowly past goal.
And the visitors were made to rue those missed opportunities six minutes later when Barca's main man came into life.
Messi had been largely disappointing in the opening exchanges, but made amends as he ghosted into the penalty area before drilling a left-foot shot which was too hot for Dynamo goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy.
Dynamo did have the ball in the net four minutes before the end of the first half but it was chalked off after Vukojevic was flagged for offside following a well-worked set-piece.
Change
Barca boss Pep Guardiola elected to bring on Pedro for Iniesta at the start of the second half and the attacking midfielder soon dazzled the home crowd in the 52nd minute as he skinned his man before fizzing an excellent cross which fell on deaf ears.
The Spanish substitute continued to impress and it was not long until the 22-year-old sealed the match for Barca when he found the bottom left-corner to finish off a move started by Messi's run and assisted cleverly by Imbrahimovic in the 76th minute.
Dynamo captain Artem Milevskiy tried to chip Victor Valdez in the 87th minute following a terrible back-pass but the striker could only find the roof of the net and took a clattering from the Barca shot-stopper to add to his troubles.
The miss summed up the Ukraine champions' night which ended without hitting the target once, while Barca could have notched a cricket score had it not been for the Dynamo goalkeeper who pulled off several top-drawer stops.
| Barcelona |
Team Statistics |
Dinamo Kiev |
| 2 |
Goals |
0 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 11 |
Shots on Target |
0 |
| 9 |
Shots off Target |
8 |
| 6 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 8 |
Corners |
2 |
| 11 |
Fouls |
16 |
| 1 |
Offsides |
4 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 89.7 |
Passing Success |
73.1 |
| 19 |
Tackles |
30 |
| 89.5 |
Tackles Success |
73.3 |
| 75.6 |
Possession |
24.4 |
| 64.1 |
Territorial Advantage |
35.9 |
|
