{"id":341778,"date":"2023-10-26T02:07:42","date_gmt":"2023-10-26T02:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=341778"},"modified":"2023-10-26T03:01:44","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T03:01:44","slug":"unbeaten-barca-on-track-to-slay-messi-myth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=341778","title":{"rendered":"Unbeaten Barca on track to slay Messi myth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barcelona<\/a> beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 to keep a perfect record and stay on course to advance to the knockout rounds of the Champions League<\/a> after two straight group-stage eliminations.<\/p>\n

Ferran Torres and Ferm\u00edn L\u00f3pez scored a goal each in the first half to help Barcelona secure its third straight victory in Group H. The Catalan club reached nine points, six more than both Shakhtar and Porto, which visits winless Antwerp in the other group match.<\/p>\n

Watch football's biggest clubs and best players in the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League,<\/strong><\/em> streaming ad free, live and exclusive on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Barcelona, the five-time European champion, hasn't advanced past the group stage since Lionel Messi left in 2021.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt's a sign of progress for us to earn nine points in the first three matches,\u201d Barcelona coach Xavi said. \u201cWe are not through to the next stage yet, but we took a step toward that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victory kept the Spanish club unbeaten in 13 matches overall this season, with 10 wins and three draws.<\/p>\n

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Shakhtar, in the debut of new coach Marino Pu\u0161i\u0107, was trying to win consecutive Champions League matches for the first time in more than five years.<\/p>\n

Torres put Barcelona ahead in the 28th minute with a volley from inside the area after L\u00f3pez\u2019s shot hit the woodwork.<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez added to the lead in the 36th after clearing a defender just outside the area and firing a right-footed shot into the top corner. The ball hit the post before finding the net.<\/p>\n

Shakhtar, which won at Antwerp in the previous round, pulled one closer with Georgiy Sudakov in a breakaway in the 62nd in what was the first goal conceded by Barcelona in the Champions League this season.<\/p>\n

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The Catalan club stayed mostly in control through end to secure the win, its fourth in the last five matches in all competitions.<\/p>\n

Torres had a goal called off for offside in the 59th, and L\u00f3pez had one disallowed for the same reason in the 60th, just after he had hit the post. Torres had scored the winner for Barcelona in its 1-0 win at Porto in the previous round.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was difficult, they have a good team, but we are happy with the victory and the nine points,\u201d said the 20-year-old L\u00f3pez, another product of Barcelona\u2019s famous La Masia academy. \u201cIt was a key match to move us closer to qualifying to the next stage. We suffered a bit, but in the end we got the three points.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barcelona was without playmaker Gavi because of a suspension. Several regular starters including Robert Lewandowski, Frenkie de Jong and Pedri were out because of injuries. Xavi didn\u2019t want to take any risks ahead of the match against Real Madrid on Saturday in the first \u201cclasico\u201d of the season in the Spanish league.<\/p>\n

Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix had to leave the match in the 75th with a minor knock. He was replaced by 17-year-old Marc Guiu, who on Sunday scored seconds into his first-team debut in a 1-0 win against Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish league.<\/p>\n

Barcelona\u2019s \u0130lkay G\u00fcndo\u011fan made his 100th UEFA competition appearance.<\/p>\n

Pu\u0161i\u0107 was appointed as Shakhtar coach a day before the match to replace Patrick van Leeuwen, who was fired last week after just 12 games in charge. Pu\u0161i\u0107 joined from Dutch champion Feyenoord, where he was an assistant to coach Arne Slot.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy team went through a lot of emotions,\u201d Pu\u0161i\u0107 said. "They\u2019ve had three coaches in a few days. They are footballers but they are people too \u2014 we can\u2019t forget that they have emotions. They showed up and competed with Barcelona tonight, so I\u2019m enormously proud.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barcelona beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 to keep a perfect record and stay on course to advance to the knockout rounds of the Champions League after […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":341780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341778"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=341778"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":341783,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341778\/revisions\/341783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/341780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=341778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=341778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=341778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}