UEFA Champions League – FC Barcelona vs. Panathinaikos – 5-1 - Full time Report Part 1
The first half at the Nou Camp was simply filled with excitement as four goals were scored in it. Messi scored two of these while David Villa got the other. On the other hand, it was the Greek side Panathinaikos who drew first blood but were left behind after fantastic team work from the Spanish La Liga champions. With a fantastic back heel from Cisse, the French number 10 Govou finished past Victor Valdes for the opening goal of the game.
After the first half, substitutions were not really required as both the teams were performing really well. Barcelona continued with their possession football and kept the ball to themselves while passing it around well.
Even with Pique’s injury, Barcelona were combining well at the back and the only man that was troubling them throughout the match was the Panathinaikos left back, Sebastian Leto. He regularly attempted to play through balls and hence kept Puyol and company on their toes.
David Villa’s shot in the 52nd minute confused the opponents as it looked to be heading for Messi, but it curled in towards the goal and just scraped the side netting. However, by winning a corner, Dani Alves managed a shot that was deflected wide.
Later, in the 55th minute a clear penalty was given to Barcelona as Lionel Messi was brought down in the penalty area. The penalty however was saved well by Tzorvas, who dove well to keep the ball out.
Even with Messi missing out on the penalty, Barcelona kept on coming up with amazing through balls and it was Xavi Hernandez who simply outclassed each and every midfielder while Lionel Messi and David Villa were simply untouchable on the wings.
In the 58th minute, Messi provided Pedro with an extraordinary one-on-one chance but it was wasted as Pedro laid it off for Villa who could only hit a defender.
Katsouranis was taken off in the 64th minute as Karagounis was the man who took the full back berth, while the Greeks did not really want to change things round much as Barcelona kept on attacking their defensive walls with their fabulous passing.
Soon, in the 66th minute, Lionel Messi took a free kick from the sideline as Pedro was the player who got caught by the Greek left back. The free kick curled in perfectly but it was too easy for the Greek goal keeper and was thus taken firmly by him.
Andres Iniesta was then taken down in the 67th minute and Barcelona won another free kick 40 yards outside the box as Xavi Hernandez prepared to take it. Xavi was an important part of the team throughout the match and soon one could see why. The free kick was well taken and Lionel Messi got another chance to score but it was deflected off by the defender.
In the 68th minute, a change was made as the scorer of the second goal and the newly signed goal machine, David Villa, was taken off while Bojan Krkic was the replacement.
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