Barcelona 2-0 Plzen

Current Champions League winners Barcelona FC claimed a 2-0 victory over Czech minnows Viktoria Plzen in their Champions League match last night at the Nou Camp.

Goals from Andrés Iniesta and David Villa kept Barca’s unbeaten record in the group alive and this means that they are level on points with AC Milan who claimed victory over BATE Borisov 2-0.

It was Andrés Iniesta who broke the stalemate after some excellent play between him and Leo Messi although it did not cause the floodgates to open as Plzen struggled hard at the back to suppress a majestic Messi who hit the woodwork on two occasions. Ex Valencia forward David Villa added the finishing touches to the result with a goal eight minutes from time.

Guardiola has made it his chief objective to qualify as quickly as possible in the group stage and stayed firm to his word in that he would not be resting any of his attacking players.

For the Czech side Viktoria Plzen, the Champions League has been a whole new ball game after they won their own League for the first time in their history and they have been thrown to the lions as it were, having been drawn in the same group as Barcelona FC and AC Milan.

The match started as predicted for Plzen as Pedro mis-fired in front of goal and Dani Alves blasted the ball over the roof of the net when both could have easily scored and made it 2-0 within 5 minutes.

Barcelona took the lead after ten minutes with a goal by Andrés Iniesta after a delightful piece of skill by Messi and himself.

Iniesta, who has been out recently with a hamstring problem looked back to his best with his graceful movement and great passing ability. He did tire however in the later stages of the game and lacked the typical Iniesta spark as we have come to know.

He and Messi sliced their way through the Plzen defence before Iniesta lifted the ball over a defender and scored.
Barcelona was in complete control as always but the second goal eluded them. It was a move that saw David Villa play in Messi but his shot was parried away by Czech, the keeper.

Pedro seemed to be a constant threat to Plzen but lacked his usual eye for goal as he shot over with the goal open-wide and then Messi threw away a great opportunity before hitting the post with a free-kick just before the half time whistle.

Chances came and went for Barcelona and Leo Messi seemed to have most of them. He squirmed past several offensive challenges inside the penalty area after 53 minutes but was yet again denied by the Plzen keeper. He later hit the post after a succulent piece of skill saw him leave one man for dead and then escape two more challenges.

Despite having most of the ball and game it did seem as though there were no more goals to be had until the Champions finally found the back of the net again. Leo Messi was stopped in front of goal but the ball fell at the feet of David Villa who made no mistake.