Barça’s winning streak continues

Goals from Puyol and Messi brought Barça a crucial victory in Stuttgart in the second round of matches in Champions League Group E. Barça now have six points out six, as do co-leaders Glasgow Rangers, who won in Lyon.
Barça are impressing both at home and abroad. From start to finish this was the kind of football we like to see from the team, and only for a few spells in the first half were Stuttgart able to produce anything of major concern.


Puyol left the pitch early with an injury, but not before he had opened the Barça account, while Leo Messi was on the end of a Henry assist to make it two.

That makes for five wins out of five in all competitions, and if Barça can keep this kind of form up, then there will be a lot to enjoy this season. But injuries are once again putting a dampener on the proceedings, and both Márquez and Puyol were withdrawn with injuries tonight.

Lively start
A shot onto the post by Deco and the early injury to Márquez, who was replaced by Puyol after just 7 minutes, set things up for a dramatic opening period. Barça conjured up a series of delightful combination plays to confound the German midfield and create chance after chance, leaving Stuttgart with no option but to try to keep things as tight as possible at the back.

Ronaldinho, back to his old self in the playmaker role, supplied numerous danger-balls to Messi (min 21) and Henry (min 24), but Schäfer always seemed to be on hand to intervene. Barça were on top, but that lethal touch in front of goal just wasn’t appearing.



Valdés keeps the sheet clean
The game was over half an hour old before Stuttgart finally decided the time had come to launch an attack, and almost got away with it. Mario Gómez had two golden opportunities within a second, but the first struck the bar and second was parried away on the line by a lightning quick Valdés. Ten minutes later, and Stuttgart were at it again, and once more Valdes was the saviour. All of a sudden, the control of the game seemed to have switched to the home side, and the half time break could not have come at a better time.

Puyol scores and goes off
Puyol was the focus of all attention after the restart. He broke the deadlock when pouncing on the end of a Schäfer clearance from a powerful header by Ronaldinho in the 52nd minute. But minutes later, the Barça captain fell awkwardly and asked to be replaced. It was the second forced substitution of the night, and will come as huge frustration to a player that has only just returned from a three-month absence with a leg injury.

A joy to watch
Barça were forced to play an unorthodox back four, but despite several players being in unfamiliar positions, they got the job done in remarkably professional fashion. Messi added the second thanks to an impeccable pass from the by-line by Thierry Henry. That was in the 65th minute, and the next ten minutes or so saw a series of superlative moves from Barça that proved just why this team is so hotly tipped to do well in this year’s Champions League.

For Stuttgart, it was a case of pressing forward in the forlorn hope of salvaging something from a game that was looking increasingly like a lost cause. And indeed it was Barça who enjoyed the last big chance of the night when substitute Bojan broke through one on one with Schäfer deep into injury time, but the German keeper just got his fingertips to the ball to turn it wide for a corner.

It all ended with Barça convincing victors 2-0, and next up is a trip to Glasgow in three weeks time to face a side that currently shares the lead with Barça after Rangers caused the shock of the evening by coming away from Lyon with an emphatic 3-0 win.



The goals :

0-1, min. 52' Puyol
0-2, min. 67' Messi

Fuente : FCB