Barcelona have won their fourth consecutive League Phase match in this season’s UEFA Champions League to solidify their spot in the Top 8 thanks to a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Brest on Tuesday night at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium. Barça were by far the better team throughout the night but needed to wait 65 minutes to finally establish a comfortable lead, but Hansi Flick’s troops eventually cruised to a quality win at home to end their mini-slump and get a little closer to an automatic spot in the Round of 16.
FIRST HALF
Barça needed only 10 minutes to establish their advantage as Robert Lewandowski was fouled inside the box by Brest goalkeeper Marco Bizot, and scored the 100th Champions League goal of his career from the penalty spot to put the Blaugrana in front.
The home team was far superior from the get-go, not allowing the visitors any joy on the counter and showing excellent intensity out of possession to recover the ball while also playing with good pace and precision with their passing.
The only issue for the last 35 minutes was in the final third: Barça always missed the last pass to truly unlock the Brest defense, and often failed to capitalize on really good chances by making poor decisions or not executing easy passes that would have surealy led to more goals.
Brest also managed to avoid conceding a second goal with a couple of crucial interventions by their defenders and one or two big saves by Bizot, and the visitors were somehow still alive as we reached the end of the period.
The halftime whistle came to end a half in which Barça took an early lead and controlled the rest of the period, but failed to capitalize on that dominance and only took a one-goal advantage into the break. They were playing quite well after 45 minutes, but needed to be better in the final third to make sure of the three points in the second half.
SECOND HALF
It was more of the same to start the second half as Barça retained their territorial advantage and continued to play some beautiful stuff up until the final third, but they either wasted promising attacks with silly mistakes or missed big chances — including an effort by Dani Olmo inside the box that was cleared off the line — and the score stayed 1-0 as we reached the hour mark.
But the Catalans kept pressing and not allowing Brest any space or time to breathe, and their pressure eventually paid off as Gerard Martín played a gorgeous ball into the box to find Dani Olmo, who weaved his way through a couple of defenders and beat the keeper to finally double Barça’s lead.
The final 25 minutes were fully dominated by the Blaugranawho managed the game very well and didn’t allow Brest any chances. They could have scored a third but weren’t precise enough in the box, but cruised to the finish as the final whistle came to secure all three points and a clean sheet.
The score doesn’t tell the full story of the game as Barça fully dominated from start to finish and could have easily scored five or six on another night, but they weren’t efficient enough in the box to make this a bigger score. But this was still a quality victory and an excellent performance, and Barça get a little closer to an automatic spot in the Champions League Round of 16.
The two-game winless streak is over, and Barça now have another home game at the weekend to return to winning ways in The League and fully restore the good vibes. Well done, boys!
Barcelona: Peña; Kounde, Cubarsí, Iñigo, Martín (Balde 78'); Casado, Pedri (De Jong 88'); Raphinha, Olmo (Gavi 68'), Fermín (Torre 78'); Lewandowski
Goals: Lewandowski (pen 10', 90+2'), Olmo (66')
Brest: Bizot; Lala, Chardonnet, Le Cardinal, Haidara; Camara (Faivre 70'), Fernandes (Martin 78'), Magnetti; Doumbia (Pereira-Lage 70'), Ajorque (Del Castillo 78'), Sima (Baldé 59')
Goals: None
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