The Catalans strolled to their 17th win in 20 games in the 2012-13
season, and advanced to the latter stages of the Champions league, while
Messi edged closer to football history
Barcelona qualified for the Champions League Round of 16 with a comfortable 3-0 victory at the Luzhniki Stadium over Spartak Moscow, who crashed out of the competition.
A
double from Lionel Messi, his 79th and 80th goals in 2012 saw him come
within five of Gerd Muller's 85-goal record in a calender year, while
racking up his 56th Champions League strike, trailing only Raul's
71-goal tally and equalling Ruud Van Nistelrooy's haul.
Dani
Alves opened the scoring with a fine half-volley, and despite a few
opportunitires for Spartak, Messi made it 2-0 just before the half-hour
mark with an opportunistic finish from a rebound.
The Argentine
finished off a quintessential Barca passing move to score his second of
the night towads the end of the first half, with only the heroics of
Andriy Dykan preventing the Blaugrana from adding to the scoreline after the interval.
Barcelona
now move onto 12 points in Group G, meaning that they cannot be caught
by third placed Benfica, while Spartak sit bottom of the standings on
three points, but still have a chance of overtaking the Portuguese side
and qualifying for the Europa League.
Fit-again Carles Puyol was
dropped to the bench from the side that defeated Zaragoza 3-1 on the
weekend, with Javier Mascherano replacing him. Alves Sergio Busquets and
Cesc Fabregas also returned to the starting XI in place of Martin
Montoya, Alex Song and David Villa.
Spartak meanwhile readied
veteran Dykan just in time to mind the net against the Catalans, after
injuries to Sergei Pesyakov and Artem Rebrov had left them scrambling to
find a fit goalkeeper.
The home side set up in a deep 5-4-1
formation to prevent Barca from playing in behind, but that only seemed
to invite attacking pressure from the Catalans, which in turn left gaps
to be exploited in the midfield.
A sublime clip from Xavi eight
minutes in was taken brilliantly by Pedro on his chest, but his volley
was parried at point blank range by Dykan. Not long after, a well worked
move from a corner saw Dmitriy Kombarov blast over the bar from 10
yards out.
Barca were ahead just after a quarter of an hour
though, as Messi, despite being surrounded by a throng of defenders, did
enough to ping to Alves on the edge of the area, who drilled a precise half-volley into the bottom corner.
Spartak
nearly struck back within minutes, but after Emenike did well to send a
cross right onto the penalty spot, Marek Suchy should have done a lot
better than slicing harmlessly over the bar from an unmarked position.
The
Russians were given a lesson in ruthlessness 27 minutes in, as Barca
raced into a two goal lead. Iniesta saw a shot saved by Dykan after
cutting in near the byline, but Messi was first to the rebound, and lashed into the corner.
But
still Spartak had their chances to get back into the game. Kombarov
found space on the left flank on the break, and sent an early cross
behind the defensive line towards Emenike, but the Nigerian skied over
the bar, a recurring theme for Spartak.
And true to form, Barca soon made the Russians rue their missed chance. The Blaugrana toyed with the Spartak midfield with a series of sublime, quick passes, before Pedro released Messi for the dagger blow, the Argentine rounding Dykan to slot home.
The
chances continued to fall Barca's way in the second half. A one-two
with Cest Fabregas and Iniesta saw the former denied by Dykan from close
range, before Messi's cross found Pedro unmarked in the six-yard box,
but his header was straight at the kepeer.
Spartak were floored
throughout the second half, and simply could not get much going as the
tiki-taka machine from the Catalans kept them perpetually on the back
foot.
Messi and Pedro each had late chances to add a fourth goal, but Dykan was alert on both occasions to prevent the Blaugrana
from scoring further. It mattered little though, as Barca breezed
through to the final whistle and took their place in the knockout stages
for yet another season.
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