Barcelona on the verge of Champions League semi-finals

PanARMENIAN.Net - In Spain, all eyes were on whether Ukrainian club Shakhtar could topple the Spanish champions, or at least take a respectable goal margin into the second-leg of their Champions League quarterfinal tie next week.

But Mircea Lucescu's men found the going tough from the outset, conceding after just two minutes thanks to Andres Iniesta, who had been pushed up-field into a more attacking role than usual, thanks to the absence of Pedro Rodriguez from the starting line-up, goal.com reports.

In the 15th minute Luiz Adriano one-on-one with the keeper toed pokes the ball wide. He was set up by a beautiful pass from Mkhytarian, threaded past Busquets who didn't have the pace to stay with Adriano. Then Dani Alves hit a backpass blind and Barcelona scramble the ball away. They were all at sea at the back, and Shakhtar were milking Dani Alves's defensive frailty.

Shakhtar handled the goal well, however, and sought to match Barca's possession game with their own attacking forays. In particular, the pace of Brazilian forward Luiz Adriano troubled the Catalans, though his composure let him down. However, the ploy could only last so long. Barcelona scored their second goal on the 34-minute mark when Dani Alves timed his run to perfection to keep on side and collect an Iniesta pass before finishing in an empty net.

The first half ended 2-0, but if Shakhtar had any hopes of pulling the deficit back they went about it the wrong way, allowing Barcelona to score eight minutes into the second half through Gerard Pique to push the scoreline to 3-0.

Shakhtar defender Yaroslav Rakitskiy made amends at the other end by flicking a free-kick past keeper Victor Valdes; but any hope of a comeback was short-lived. From the restart Barca attacked and Messi found Keita in oceans of space, powering a shot into the roof of the net from the edge of the area.

There was to be no joy for Adriano as he hit the inside of the post for Shakhtar and then in the final minutes Xavi was left unmarked to convert an Alves cross and put Barca on the verge of the semi-finals.