FC Barcelona - 2, FC Copenhagen - 0: EUFA Champions League Summary

FC Barcelona moved to the top of the Group D with a laboured 2-0 victory against the Danish Champions, FC Copenhagen. Two strikes from the World Player of the Year, Lionel Messi, secured a vital win for Barca. FC Copenhagen did have its fair share of chances, but failed to capitalize on these opportunities.

Xavi, who was originally doubtful for this match, made it into the substitute bench after receiving clearance from the medical staff. Valdes, however, was diagnosed with a substantial fever and subsequently ruled out of the match. As a result, Pinto earned a rare start. The rest of the defense was filled out with Abidal, Pique, Puyol and Alves.

Guardiola decided to employ an ultra defensive midfield with Maxwell, Mascherano and Busquets. The front three were Iniesta, Villa and Messi.

With such a defensive midfield, it was clear from the start that any creative spark was going to come from way up the pitch.

Iniesta and Messi looked to have agreed upon that one of them will drop into midfield all the time. It should be no surprise that these two were our best players out there. 

We started the half with Villa hitting the cross bar in the 5th minute. Afterwards, the squad looked pretty dull, but fortunately Messi and Iniesta were able to end the run of bad play.

In the 19th minute, Iniesta passed the ball to Messi who was left alone just outside box. From that angle, it was a surity that he would score and most certainly did just after receiving the ball. Celebrations followed.

In the 20th minute, there was a slight scare when Barcelona's defense was exposed by a sudden counter attack. Luckily, Santin stopped the run even though the player was ruled offside.

In the 32nd minute, Villa put the ball in the back of net but was rightly ruled offside. Messi set up Villa with a great ball that was a shame to see go to waste. The very next minute, Villa was denied once again - this time by the goal keeper. A great ball by Iniesta picks out Alves who send it to Villa, but the striker's thunderous strike was a bit too close to goal keeper.

Yet another goal was ruled offside in the 39th minute. Pique played ball to Busquets, who then played it back as Pique was pushing forward. Messi was unmarked and received the ball, but was offside unintentionally. In the end, Pique probably should have taken the shot himself.

In the 41st minute, Alves went in for a solo run from the right skipping past two defnders with neat step-overs. His final shot was low and kept out by the keeper.

FC Copenhagen started the second half better than Barca.

In the 50th minute, Puyol had to make a crucial intervention to prevent them from having a clear sight on goal.

In the 57th minute, Messi saw his shot sail over the bar.

In the 66th minute, Barcelona almost paid for our laid back attitude when the ball struck the cross bar and the follow up header was barely saved by Pinto

The first real chance of the second half came in 72nd minute, but Villa was once again denied by keeper. Guardiola immediatly brought in Xavi and Pedro for Maxwell and Villa, respectively. Immediately afterwards, the team was caught off guard and Alves was forced to produce a killer intervention to prevent a goal.

In the 87th minute, a back tracking Pinto has to make a one handed save to deny the equaliser.

The very next minute Alves saw his shot hit the post.

In the 92nd minute, Lionel Messi scores his second goal of the night to seal of the victory.

The end result 2-0 may give a picture of a comfortable victory for Barca. But, truthfully, we had some serious moment of scare and have to thank our good fortunes for Copenhagen failing to equalise.

The match underlined the importance of creative players in our midfield. The lack of goal scoring and, moreover, genuine shot on targets is worrying me a lot and sooner or later this is going to make us pay. David Villa had another fruitless night infront of goal, and sooner or later he has to start firing. Iniesta was brilliant in the first half, but in second half he was below average. It was good to see Messi back to life after some below average performance.