After a convincing win over Valencia at the weekend, Barcelona maintained a ‘mini’ winning streak on Wednesday as they edged past Dynamo Kyiv. After heavy losses against Bayern Munich and Benfica, the Blaugrana outfit was required to extract a win against their Ukrainian visitors. After the full-time whistle, Gerard Pique’s goal proved to be decisive for Barca as they were able to pick all three points from this home fixture.
Barcelona start slow but after 90 mins, they emerge as the ‘better team’ at the Camp Nou
At Camp Nou, both teams had a slow start to the game as they were unable to create good chances in their attacking thirds. After the first quarter, Luuk De Jong had an excellent chance to score for his side as he was handed a free header six yards from the goal, which was knocked wide of the post.
In the 36th minute, defender Gerard Pique opened the scoring as he was set up by a beautiful cross by Jordi Alba, and was converted by the Spaniard to make it 1-0 in favour of the hosts.
The second half of the game did not bring in much change for the visiting side as they looked high and dry upfront. On the other side, the Catalans, too, were not too impressive in their attacking half. Koeman’s decision to swap Ansu Fati in place of Luuk De Jong did bring in some improvement to the attack, however, there was no final product from the Barca no.10 in his 40-minute appearance at the Camp Nou.
Gerard Pique was the only positive for Barcelona
In the end, Barcelona were glad to just bag their first win in the Champions League. Truth be told, it wasn’t a satisfying performance from the Blaugrana outfit as they were lethargic on all fronts of the pitch.
In the remaining three games of their UCL campaign, the Catalans will need to improve their performances if they are to qualify for the next round of the competition. For now, Koeman’s side are again scheduled to return to Camp Nou on Sunday for their first El-Clasico of the season.