Match Report: Viktoria Plzen 0-4 Barcelona

It all started with Marian Cisovsky getting sent off in the 16th minute, conceding a penalty. Down to 10 men, the Czech champions could not put up a fight against their superior Catalan opponents. Up steps Messi. With no memory of his penalty miss against Sevilla, The 3-time Ballon D’or winner slots the ball coolly into the bottom-left corner and is then mobbed by his teammates. For his 2nd goal of the night, the little Argentinian subtly weaved his way into the penalty area after being well set up by his Brazilian counterpart, Dani Alves. He then played a quick one-two with Adriano and finishes with ease. The third goal came after some good work from 20-year-old Spaniard, Isaac Cuenca, who beat his marker, and crossed to Fabregas who nodded home emphatically. With a hat-trick the previous game against Mallorca, Messi, repeated the same feat after Chilean, Alexis Sanchez passed to Pique, who backheeled towards the surging Argentinian. Messi just had to do the simple job of rounding the keeper and tapping the ball into the empty net to make it 4-0. Midway through the 1st half, Plzen goalkeeper, Roman Pavlik had to make a couple of stops and Thiago’s header got denied by the bar. The Czech side only created one scoring chance in the 2nd half but wasted it. This win sealed the cup holder’s’ passage through to the final 16 while their opposition stayed bottom of the group with only a point. This match also marks Victor Valdes’ record of 877 minutes without conceding a goal.