Barcelona vs. Apoel Nicosia: Score, Grades and Post-Match Reaction

It was much closer than they wanted, but Barcelona survived a tough challenge from APOEL Nicosia and earned a 1-0 win in their first UEFA Champions League match of the season.   

Gerard Pique had a great match on both ends of the pitch, scoring the only goal while helping preserve the clean sheet in the victory. The win gives the Spanish club three points and an early lead in Group F after Ajax Amsterdam and Paris Saint-Germain played to a 1-1 draw.

Before the start of the match, Pique discussed the importance of getting off to a fast start in these matches, via Anna Segura of FCBarcelona.com:

"

The first Champions League match is always important for getting off on the right foot and going on to top the group, which our prime target … They may not be all that well known and I’m sure they’ll want to keep things tight at the back, so it will be hard to get the first goal.

"

This made it interesting to see him take matters into his own hands with the opening score of the match in the 28th minute.

As Sport noted, the first goal came on a set piece from Lionel Messi after Dani Alves was fouled on the right side of the pitch:

Pique was able to come through with a strong finish from close range to put his side up 1-0.

The rest of the first half featured Barcelona controlling most of the possession but unable to get the ball into the back of the net. WhoScored.com provided a look at the one-sided statistics at intermission:

Samuel Marsden of Sport also broke down his thoughts after 45 minutes:

The second half was more of the same as Barcelona kept attacking but struggled to break though the defence. Neymar and Messi each had opportunities but could not get the shots they wanted.

APOEL finally earned their own opportunity around the 64th minute, although it was stopped by Alves, as described by AS:

This was not the only chance late, as Dermot Corrigan of ESPN FC noted:

However, the underdogs were unable to put the ball in the back of the net as the impressive effort to keep it close still resulted in a loss.

Group F is clearly one of the toughest groups in the Champions League with a number of experienced clubs looking to earn a spot in the knockout stage. This makes every point important for squads hoping to finish in the top two of the group.

With this win, Barcelona did what needed to be done to kick off their UCL journey and put them back in contention for a championship.

Meanwhile, APOEL were unable to get a point but certainly will have high expectations for the remainder of their matches at this stage.

Grades

Lionel Messi, Barcelona: A-

Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

Everyone expects scoring from Messi after his incredible numbers over the past few years, but he has been helping Barcelona in other ways this season, as Corrigan noted:

His assist was on a perfect ball into the zone for Pique to finish, helping his team get the lead when nothing else was happening on the attack.

While the lack of scoring was certainly disappointing for supporters, Messi was a big reason the squad was able to emerge victorious.

Sergi Samper, Barcelona: A

Making his first career start for Barcelona after coming up through the youth program, Sergi Samper showed a lot of the reason he is so highly regarded.

The 19-year-old midfielder was very active in the match, aggressively going for tackles while also doing a good job of controlling possession when he got the ball. He also displayed some nifty footwork at times to keep the ball away from the opponent.

It was far from a perfect showing, but the youngster played every minute of this one and might have earned himself some more appearances with the senior club in the future. 

Cillian Sheridan, APOEL Nicosia: B-

Although APOEL clearly had a conservative game plan in mind against Barcelona, the squad still gave itself little chance to earn points from this match once down 1-0. A lot of that came down to the lack of activity from Cillian Sheridan.

The forward was nearly invisible for much of the match, failing to get touches and hurting his team when he did. He lost balls and missed passes to kill any rallies his side would get.

Scoring on Barcelona has proven to be a nearly impossible task this season for anyone, but Sheridan did little to help his squad in this one.

Urko Pardo, APOEL Nicosia: A

EuroFootball/Getty Images

It is never easy facing Barcelona as a goalkeeper, as the attack always seems to come through with a barrage of shots. In many cases, there is nothing you can do to prevent multiple goals from going in.

The good news is Urko Pardo did about as much as he could to keep his opponent off the scoresheet, making big saves while remaining in control of the defence for much of the match.

Although he allowed an early goal, it could have been much worse without the strong play of Pardo.

What's Next?

Barcelona will try to continue their hot start to the La Liga season with a road match against Levante. With three clean sheets in three victories to begin the year, they should have a lot of confidence building their lead on top of the table.

They will return to Champions League action on Sept. 30 against PSG. Apoel Nicosia will compete on the same day against Ajax, but will first play Ayia Napa in Cyprus. 

After a strong showing against Barcelona, this team should have no problem continuing its success at the league level.

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