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Match

Marcador del partit

Date: Wednesday, 26 Nov
Competition: ???label.competicio1???
Stadium: José Alvalade, Lisbon

Resultat:

Sporting Clube: 2
FC Barcelona: 5

Match report

Match Report
Pre-Match

Match Report

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THE GOALS

0-1, Henry (min 13)
0-2, Piqué (min 17)
0-3, Messi (min 49)
1-3, Veloso (min 65)
2-3, Liedson (min 66)
2-4, Caneira (en pp, min 67)
2-5, Bojan (pen, min 73)

High-scoring win brings reward (2-5)

Roger Bogunyà

Barça assured themselves of first place in their CL group following an emphatic victory against Sporting Clube in Lisbon. Thierry Henry, Gerard Piqué, Lionel Messi, an own goal and Bojan saw the Blaugrana chalk up another impressive tally.

The win was even more impressive as it was Barça’s ninth consecutive win away from home in all competitions and came against their main rivals in the competition for top spot in the group. Now first place is secured with a game to go, against Shakhtar in two weeks, means that Pep Guardiola’s team will be able to remain calm in the build-up the visit of Real Madrid after the Ukrainians have been to Camp Nou in midweek.

In the José Alvalade, Barça produced another outstanding display to secure all three points and show all their attacking potency once again with another goalscoring feat. A good first half display saw them go in 0-2 ahead at the break and a third goal followed soon after. Sporting looked to pull themselves back into the game with two goals in two minutes soon after, but an own goal then saw the pendulum swing back the other way again and when a penalty made it five the contest was virtually over.

A good start

It took just seven minutes for Barça to show that they were out to win the match as Xavi took aim from a free-kick and clipped it over the wall, only for the ball to bounce off the crossbar and over. Six minutes later and the deadlock was broken as Messi, who began the game in the central role of the three forwards received the ball from Henry and eased past Carriço and rolling it back to the Frenchman to slot home from six yards out in his 100th Champions League match.

Complete dominance

Barça scored with their next attack and took command of the game. Xavi took a short corner and then sent the cross to the far post where Gudjohnsen nodded back to the near post and Piqué prodded home. Only 17 minutes were on the clock and the visitors were already looking set to put on a commanding performance against a team that looked surprised by the way the game had started. Guardiola’s side went on to create several chances before the break, but Sporting held out at the back while they tried to close down their opponents in the midfield.

Number three

Within moments of the restart, Barça were three goals ahead as they took advantage of a lapse of concentration in the Sporting defence. Alves took a free-kick while the hosts were remonstrating with the referee and Messi tucked it past the keeper. The goal was allowed and the Blaugrana had moved further clear.

Three unbelievable minutes

Guardiola felt that he could then afford to give Messi a rest and replaced the Argentinian star with Pedro. But the cushion saw Barça take their eye slightly off the ball and Sporting were able to pull themselves back into the game with two goals in quick success as Veloso and Liedson both netted.

At 2-3, Barça knew that they could not longer sit back and the pressure told immediately as Caneira met a ball in the area and clipped it over his own keeper and into the net via the crossbar to put the visitors two ahead once again.

Penalty and red card

The incredible turn of events continued soon after as Bojan tracked the change of direction of the ball after it clipped Grimi's head and the keeper had no choice but to block him and was been sent off. The young Barça striker stood up and showed a cool head to steer the ball low to the left and was relieved after Tiago managed to reach it but fail to stop it bouncing down and up into the net.

After the flurry of goals, the remaining quarter of an hour saw things calm down, but there was still time for Valdés to deny Derlei by blocking his header with his face.

Preview

Possible combinations

- A home win tonight would leave Sporting three points ahead of Barça going into the final day of the Champions league group stage.

- A draw with leave things the same as they are now, with Barcelona one point ahead.

- A win for Barça would mean Josep Guardiola’s side would be mathematically guaranteed the top spot in Group C. That would make their final game at home to Shakhtar Donetsk a meaningless affair.

A game well worth winning

Roger Bogunyà

Both Sporting Lisbon and Barça have already qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League, but that doesn’t mean tonight’s game is meaningless (20.45, live on Canal + y R@dio Barça). A Barça win would mean they progress as group winners.

Both sides may have got the most important job of qualification behind them a fortnight ago, but it has yet to be decided which one will have the first class ticket into the last sixteen, and which side will be flying economy class.

Top spot beckons

And it matters, for the teams that finish top of their respective groups have the distinct advantage of playing the all-important second leg games at home, and also avoiding the seven other group winners, which are invariably the sides you would prefer to avoid meeting so early on. Barça start with the slight advantage at the José Alvalade, and if they can win they would be guaranteed top spot and would therefore be able to relax when they play Shakhtar in the final match.

With Messi

To assure victory, Josep Guardiola has opted to include Messi, who like Márquez missed the game with Getafe, but has decided to drop Puyol and Touré Yaya. That’s a highly attack-minded side, with the only missing striker being the injured Iniesta.

Sporting fourth in the league

The opposition is Sporting Lisbon, who have won all of their European ties since going down at the Camp Nou (3-1) more than two months ago. But Paulo Bento’s side has failed to repeat that form in their domestic championship where they are languishing in fourth, six points behind surprise early leaders Leixoes.

Also, in the Taça, the Portuguese Cup, Sporting were knocked out by Porto, who were thus able to gain revenge on the side that beat them in last year’s final.

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