Champions League QF: Barcelona vs Shakhtar Recap (1st Leg)

1 – 0

Barcelona vs Shakhtar

Barca seemed to have a bit of a slow start, finding their footing around 15 minutes into the game.  It was during this time that Shakhtar really pushed their offense and made a lot of attempts.  You can see the holes in Barca defense which Shakhtar tried to exploit.  With the absence of Carles Puyol and Abidal, Barca really needs to step up their defense as it seems like they will be facing Real Madrid in the semis (and in the domestic matches).  A team like Real will really capitalize on their weak defense.

Leo Messi scored the only goal of the match during the later part of the 1^st half.  It was an amazing show of ball control and dribbling skills.  The commentator said of the goal, “The little man re-writes the record books, yet again.”  Can you believe he’s only 23?!

no, this isn't the "jersey-grabbing" shot.. can't find it yet, well see if I can get the vid
photo from Getty Image

I guess Shakhtar must have felt that Messi was just too dangerous that they had to literally hold onto him to slow him down.  Ischencko, was seen clearly grabbing Messi’s jersey during the 2^nd half.  And a couple of minutes later, another Shakhtar defender (wasn’t able to clearly see who), grabbed on to Messi’s jersey when he dispossessed the ball from goalie, Andrey Pyativ.  I know this is normal in football but it the grabbing was caught clearly on camera.  Ischencko held on so tight, Messi couldn't run forward anymore.  I'll try to find a vid of it if I can.

On an unrelated note, this guy’s  kinda cute, hihi J  He has that Elijah Wood-look going on.

Yaroslav Rakitskiy

Another unrelated note, Swapping Jersey Watch: saw Messi holding Willian’s jersey after the match.  Messi must, like, swap jerseys every game.  Lucky Willan, got the "record-breaking" Messi jersey.

Final Aggregate Score:

Barcelona: 6

Shakhtar: 1

Here are numbers:

Shakhtar Donetsk		Barcelona
0	Goals scored	1
5	Attempts on target	6
5	Attempts off target	8
5	Corners	4
23' 52''	Possession (time)	37' 45''
38	Possession (%)	62
22	Fouls committed	17
2	Yellow cards	1
0	Red cards	0

Goals:

43^rd minute – Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Yellow Cards:

            Henrik Mkhitaryan (Shakhtar)

            Mykola Ishchenko (Shakhtar)

Gabrial Militio (Barcelona)

Read 1^st Leg Match Preview Here

Read 1^st Leg Match Recap Here

Read 2^nd Leg Match Preview Here

Great articles on the match here:

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi equals Spanish football record of 48 goals in a single season

Messi eases Barca through

Shakhtar Donetsk 0-1 Barcelona (1-6 agg.): Messi strike eases Blaugrana into semi-finals

TEAM NEWS: Lionel Messi & David Villa lead charge for Barcelona against Shakhtar Donetsk

Shakhtar Donetsk’s Mircea Lucescu: I hope Barcelona win the Champions League

Barcelona's Pep Guardiola hails 'incredible' players after reaching Champions League semi-finals

Player Ratings: Shakhtar Donetsk 0-1 Barcelona (agg. 1-6)

Barcelona's Sergio Busquets believes the club can now focus on 'el Clasico' after defeating Shakhtar Donetsk

Victor Valdes: Barcelona are playing even better this year

Barca see off Shakhtar as Real showdown looms

Barcelona, Man United reach Champions semis

Barcelona beats Shakhtar 1-0 in Champions League

Barcelona beats Shakhtar 1-0 in Champions League

Champions League QF: Barcelona vs Shakhtar (2nd Leg)

Barcelona vs Shakhtar

April 13 @ 4:30AM (Balls Channel)

According to the commentator during their 1^st leg match, this game “looks like a formality”.  Even if Shakhtar wins, they need to score lots and lots of goals to overcone Barca’s solid 4-point advantage over them to advance to the next round.  Shakhtar captain Darijo Srna, defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy and Coach Mircea Lucescu are already saying that Barca will be advancing to the semis and even winning the finals.  Seems like they will just try to salvage what they can from the previous 5-1 defeat.

"We play for the honour of our club, the city and the fans." – Darijo Srna, demanding Shakhtar playesr a show of character on the 2^nd leg match.

I will still be crossing my fingers coz in football, you’ll never know.

Here’s what the very modest Pep Guardiola has to say:

“A serious test awaits us. We should complete our task in the Champions League before preparing for the Santiago Bernabeu. I want to repeat, again, that the tie is not already won. Anything is possible in football, but we will work hard to prevent Shakhtar pulling off a miracle.”

Maybe Shakhtar can to exploit Barca’s shakey defense (they will still be without Puyol and Abidal).  Guardiola has been saying not to underestimate this offense-minded team.  But even if Shakhtar wins this match, it will tougher for them to win in the final aggregate score though.  They also need to prevent Barca from scoring away goals (good luck with that).

I am looking forward to watching the “best team in the world” play again, it’s very entertaining to watch their tiki-taka football J

Aggregate Score:

Barcelona: 5
Shakhtar: 1

For the win:

Barcelona

They almost have this in the bag, most likely advancing to the semis.  They can just pretty much settle for a draw (but knowing Barca, they will try to score). They cab even afford to let Shakhtar score a few goals, but no more than 4 goals

Shakhtar

Except for a  5-1 (in Shakhtar’s favor) result, they need to score at least 4 goals more than Barca to reach the semis.

Key players who’ll miss the action:

            Carles Puyol (Barcelona) – injury

            Andres Iniesta (Barcelona) – match suspension

            Eric Abidal (Barcelona) – injury

            Darijo Srna (Shakhtar) – injury

            Dmytro Chygrynskiy (Shakhtar) – injury

Stadium: Donbass Arena (Shakhtar’s Home Turf)

More news articles here:

Shakhtar captain Srna backs Barcelona

Match facts: Shakhtar v Barcelona

Shakhtar Donetsk can beat Barcelona 4-0 in Ukraine – A 'serious test' awaits Pep Guardiola and his team, and other quotes from the week

Champions League preview: Shakhtar Donetsk – Barcelona

Barcelona's Pep Guardiola urges prudence against Shakhtar Donetsk as he ignores Real Madrid talk

Shakhtar have their limitations exposed against superior Barcelona (really great article..love how it described Barca as “masters of ball retention and circulation”)

Dmytro Chygrynskiy optimistic Shakhtar Donetsk can beat Barcelona

Shakhtar shorn of Srna for Barcelona decider

Rakitskiy trusts Shakhtar have learned their lesson

Yaroslav Rakitskiy urges Shakhtar Donetsk to avoid mistakes against Barcelona

Shakhtar to face Barcelona after away drubbing

Injured Bojan out of Barcelona run-in 

Here's my attempt in being an “expert”... Below are score combinations showing which team can qualify to the next round.

Shakhtar	Barcelona
0	0
1	0
2	0
3	0
4	0
5	0
1	1
2	1
3	1
4	1
5	1
1	2
2	2
3	2
4	2
5	2
6	2
7	2
1	3
2	3
3	3
7	3
1	4
2	4
3	4
8	4

Highlighted in yellow means that that team will will proceed to the Quarter finals.  Pink means the aggregate score as well as the number of away goals is a tie, so I dunno if they'll do extra time, shoot out or coin toss...

Champions League QF: Barcelona vs Shakhtar Recap (1st Leg)

5 – 1

Barcelona vs Shakhtar

Again, another amazing attacking football from Barca.  It was an example of Barca’s tiki-taka style of play that is just entertaining to watch.  Imagine, Barca had 671 passes completed compared to Shakhtar’s 286.  I love their quick one-two passes, building up the play, the ball zigzagging within Messi, David Villa, Iniesta and Alves, and out of nowhere a shot (mostly) on target surprising Shakhtar’s goalie and defence. 

The first goal was a pass from Messi to David Villa where there was some sort of deflection and Iniesta was just in the right spot to beat the goalkeeper.  Second goal was a long pass from Iniesta and Alves, out of nowhere, slotted the ball in.  I think Shakhtar’s defense was caught flat footed.  I mean, who was marking Alves?  Third goal was from set play corner.  Alves providing the cross and the player marking Pique didn’t notice him slip away and make the shot.  Fourth goal was right after Shakhtar scored their only goal (from a free kick) where Barca countered right away (probably within a minute after). It was Keita scoring from “a beautiful pass” (according to the commentator) from Messi.  And just when you thought Barca was finished with their attack, an unmarked Xavi converted the excellent cross from Alves to score the last goal of the match.

Shakhtar had some quick-counter attack moves, where Barca’s defense was caught off guard a couple of times.  They infiltrated the holes of Barca defense, capitalizing on the defensive mistakes of Barca.  Good thing they had some “awful finishing” (according tot the commentator) sometimes firing the shots too wide or hitting the post.  There were also great saves by Valdez.  In those instances, you would really feel the absence of Puyol and Abidal at the back.

Messi might not have scored in this match but he did make his presence felt.  He had some pretty close chances with his shots.  But more than anything, he has set up some of Barca’s goals and attempts, so his attacking creativity is not just for finding the back of the net but for creating chances for the team as well.  Can I say he can be a good playmaker as well?  Football experts out there, please enlighten me J

On a different note, Srna (I think) asked for Messi’s jersey during end of the 1^st half.  I could just imagine that there are probably many players who ask for his jersey during games.  Messi must, like, stock lots of jerseys in their dressing room.  Does it happen where he’d run out of jerseys to give?  Is there, like, a record for the most jerseys requested from a player?  What does Messi do with all the jerseys he received?  What do other players do with the jerseys they swapped from other teams?   Do they hang it somewhere?  Frame it? 

*sigh* If I only lived in Europe, I’d be stalking my favourite players, and ask for autographed jerseys from them J

Aggregate Score:

Barcelona: 5

Shakhtar: 1

Here are numbers:

Barcelona		Shakhtar
5	Goals scored	1
10	Attempts on target	2
7	Attempts off target	4
4	Corners	3
42' 37''	Possession (time)	23' 34''
64	Possession (%)	36
9	Fouls committed	20
1	Yellow cards	3
0	Red cards	0

Goals:

2nd minute – Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

34th minute – Daniel Alves (Barcelona)

53rd minute – Gerard Pique (Barcelona)

60th minute – Yaroslav Rakitskiy (Shakhtar)

61st minute – Seydou Keita (Barcelona)

86th minute – Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona)

Yellow Cards:

            Razvan Rat (Shakhtar)

            Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

Yaroslav Rakitskiy (Shakhtar)

Fernandinho (Shakhtar)

Great articles on the match here:

Bullish Barcelona make light work of Shakhtar

Five-goal Barcelona brush off Ukrainian champions in quarterfinal romp

Barcelona wins 5-1 win at home over Shakhtar

Guardiola: We are not thinking about Real Madrid yet (very humble, coming from a coach whose team won big, this is why I like him better the “special one”)

Barcelona’s Seydou Keita dedicates goal to Eric Abidal

Barcelona’s Gerard Pique looking ahead to Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid after Shakhtar mauling

Barcelona 5-1 Shakhtar Donetsk: Iniesta and Xavi help five-star Blaugrana sweep past Ukrainians

Player Ratings: Barcelona 5-1 Shakhtar Donetsk