Champions League Group E, Borisov Arena: BATE Borisov 0 Barcelona 2 (Rakitic 48, 64)
Barcelona made tough work of it but finally managed to get two goals past BATE Borisov in a chilly Borisov Arena.
Ivan Rakitic scored both goals, the first a shot from distance and the second a clever chip over the onrushing goalkeeper Sergei Chernik.
Rakitic - who came on as an early substitute for the injuredSergi Roberto - will be grateful to Neymar, who set up both goals and was Barcelona's most creative and dangerous player throughout.
BATE Borisov defended in numbers and mostly solidly, but failed to make any attempts on goal themselves until midway through the second half courtesy of Nikolay Signevich.
Barcelona's Ivan Rakitic (2nd L) shoots to score a goal past BATE Borisov's goalkeeper Sergei Chernik (L) during their Champions League group E soccer match at the Borisov Arena stadium outside Minsk, Belarus, October 20, 2015 - Reuters
HIGHLIGHTS
10' SAVE! Ooh, save! Good work, Chernik. Neymar's corner is a good one and Suarez gets his head on it, but that's an excellent close-range save.
29' CHANCE! Oh, and that free kick flashes across the face of goal - Busquets pings it across, about six yards out, and there's no final touch on it.
48' GOAL! Finally, the deadlock is broken - Rakitic hits a screamer just outside the box after good work from Neymar.
53' CHANCE! Another good chance falling to Neymar, who catches it on the volley but skews it wide.
65' GOAL! Well, I'm glad Neymar's here. Ivan Rakitic will also be glad of this, because it's his service that's given him two goals so far this evening.
77' CHANCE! Oh, and a chance for BATE! Mascherano blocks the effort from Signevich.
KEY STATISTICS
Ivan Rakitic becomes the third Barcelona player to score a brace as a substitute. Messi scored twice vs Shakhtar (1-2) on 1 October 2008 and Tello scored twice vs Bayer Leverkusen (7-1) on 7 March 2012.
BATE have now conceded a goal in each of their last 21 CL matches. Only Spartak Moskva (24 from November 2000 to December 2006) have had a longer CL main tournament run without a clean sheet.
Stats courtesy of Infostrada
TALKING POINT
How are Barcelona faring without Lionel Messi? Well, they haven't been looking particularly great, it has to be said. Could this match be a turning point? With the first clean sheet in nine matches, that will be some consolation to them at least - even if they're struggling on the creativity front.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Neymar (Barcelona) - everything decent went through or from him.
RATINGS
BATE Borisov - Chernik, Gaiduchik, Milunovic, Mladenovic, Ployakov, Volodko, Nikolic, Stasevich, Volodko, Signevich, Gordeichuk. SUBS: Soroko, Yablonski, Karnitski, Aleksievich,Rios, Baga, Mozolevski.
Barcelona - Ter Stegen, Pique, Busquets, Alvez, Suarez, Neymar, Mascherano, Bartra, El Haddadi, Jordi Alba, Roberto. SUBS: Bravo, Adriano, Vermaelen, Mathieu, Rakitić, Gumbau, Ramírez.
0 comments:
Post a Comment