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Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Messi Brace Secures Barca

Lionel Messi moved to within five goals of Gerd Muller's scoring record as Barcelona qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League with a 3-0 victory over Spartak Moscow.

The Argentinian scored twice to go to 80 goals so far in 2012, just five behind Muller's record number of goals scored in a calendar year from 1972.

Dani Alves gave Barcelona the lead before Messi's double strike with all the goals coming before half-time.

It was tough on Spartak who showed first but Kim Kallstrom fired over before Pedro almost put the Catalan side in front but his instant shot was superbly parried by goalkeeper Andrei Dykan who showed his quick reactions in the centre of the goal.

Barcelona went ahead in the 16th minute through Alves when he struck a volley cleanly past the goalkeeper after the ball was laid off by Messi at the edge of the area.

The visitors then wasted a great chance to equalise when Emmanuel Emenike's cross from the right found Marek Suchy who had got ahead of his marker but he did not even get a shot on target from less than 12 yards, instead ballooning the ball over.

They were left to rue that when shortly after Barca took a two-goal lead.

Andres Iniesta's shot from a narrow angle brought a parry from the goalkeeper but Messi pounced on the rebound and although he half snatched at the shot the ball bounced into the bottom right-hand corner.

Spartak were still creating chances, Emenike firing over although he was at full stretch.

Messi scored his second of the night and Barca's third six minutes before the break when he timed his run perfectly and latched on to Pedro's superbly weighted pass, got ahead of the defence and rounded the keeper before slotting the ball home.

Emenike shot over at the start of the second half but Barca were weaving the ball around.

Yevgeni Makeev completely miscontrolled the ball when well-positioned and the game was clearly beyond the hosts who had failed to take any of their chances.

Dykan thwarted Messi and Pedro as the game played itself out without further score as Barca breezed through.

Spartak Moscow v Barcelona - Preview

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Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova admits his side cannot expect to have any element of surprise in their favour when they take on Spartak Moscow in the UEFA Champions League.

Barca may be one of the most famous teams in the world but Vilanova felt the Catalan giants could still rely on a certain amount of mystery when they played in Europe - but not this week.

The main reason for that is Unai Emery, Spartak's Spanish coach who previously spent five years battling in the Primera Division against all-conquering Barca, first with Almeria and then at Valencia.

"Normally the advantage we have in Europe is that they don't know us as well as they do in La Liga, but in this case against Spartak that advantage disappears," said Vilanova.

Barcelona will welcome back Sergio Busquets for the Group G game after he missed the recent double-header against Celtic due to suspension following his sending off during the victory over Benfica last month.

He has travelled to Russia along with Carles Puyol, with the experienced defender now back to fitness after an elbow injury.

However, fellow defender Marc Bartra is out for at least a fortnight, so Sergi Roberto and Gerard Deulofeu have been added to the squad by coach Vilanova.

Since beating Spartak at home, Barca have moved on to nine points in Group G, two clear of second-placed Celtic who they lost 2-1 to in the previous round.

Spartak prop up the group with three points but can still claim a top-two berth if results go their way over the final two rounds.

"The defeat in Glasgow has complicated things for the Catalans. It's going to be a tough game (on Tuesday). In any case, our mission is to win," said Emery

"We will go out with this idea. We will try to take advantage of the chances that we'll have in the game."

Emery has a number of absentees for the clash at the Luzhniki stadium, with Romulo, Artem Rebrov, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Soslan Gatagov, Nicolas Pareja, Aiden McGeady and Artem Dzyuba all set to be missing.