Slavia Prague 1-2 Barcelona: Hard fought win to move clear at top of group
Lionel Messi and an own goal helped Barça to a win in the Czech capital on Wednesday
Barcelona were not at the races but still managed to leave Slavia Prague with a 2-1 win on Wednesday to strengthen their position in their Champions League group.
SLA
1 ________________ 2
FCB
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Slavia
Kolar; Coufal, Kudela, Hovorka, Boril; Soucek, Sevcik; Masopust (Van Buren, m.76') , Stanciu (Husbauer, 76'), Zeleny (Tecl, 46') y Olayinka.
Barcelona
Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Jordi Alba; Busquets (Arturo Vidal, 78'), De Jong, Arthur (Rakitic, 83'); Messi, Suárez y Griezmann (Dembélé, 68').
Goles
0-1: Messi (3'). 1-1: Boril (50'). 1-2: Olayinka, p.p. (57').
Árbitro
Bobby Madden (ESC). Amonestó con tarjeta amarilla a Jordi Alba (34'), Masopust (56'), Boril (64'), Olayinka (70') Sevcik (76') y Dembélé (91').
Incidencias
19.170 espectadores presenciaron el partido correspondiente a la tercera jornada de la Champions League 2019-2020 disputado en el Sinobo Stadium de Praga.
Ernesto Valverde's side now have seven points from three matches with back-to-back home games, against Slavia and Borussia Dortmund, to come. Dortmund and Inter have four points each, while Slavia have just one despite some impressive performances.
Lionel Messi opened the scoring in Prague, winning the ball back and giving it to Arthur Melo. Arthur returned the ball and Messi did the rest with less than three minutes on the clock.
Slavia grew into the game, though, and Barça had Marc-Andre ter Stegen to thank for keeping them ahead going into the break.
However, the Czech side eventually got back on level terms. Lukas Masopust got in behind the defence and set up left-back Jan Boril to poke home.
Just as it looked as if the tide had turned, though, Barça got their noses back in front. Messi's free-kick found Luis Suarez at the far post and Peter Olayink had the misfortune of turning into his own net.
Slavia did have chances to level again, but Barça could also have killed the game on the bench. Ousmane Dembele, Suarez and Messi were all guilty of missing chances.
Those misses didn't come back to haunt them in Prague but the performance wasn't pretty.
Barcelona now have a free weekend with the Clasico against Real Madrid postponed, rearranged for Dec. 18. They are back in action on Tuesday when they host Real Valladolid at Camp Nou in La Liga.
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