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Barcelona crushes Levski 5-0
Andres Iniesta opened the scoring Tuesday to help FC Barcelona beat Levski Sofia 5-0 and make a successful start to its Champions League defence.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 10:36 AM IST
Read Time: 2 min
Barcelona:
Andres Iniesta opened the scoring Tuesday to help FC Barcelona beat Levski Sofia 5-0 and make a successful start to its Champions League defence.
Ludovic Giuly, Carles Puyol, Samuel Eto'o and Ronaldinho added goals as the Spanish champion produced a confident display against the team regarded as the weakest in Group A, which also contains Chelsea and Werder Bremen.
Barcelona used the game at its Camp Nou stadium to promote United Nations children's charity UNICEF on their shirts for the first time. The Spanish club had never before worn advertising on the front of their dark red-and-blue jerseys in a competitive match.
Making its debut in the Champions League group stages, Levski fell behind in the seventh minute after Ronaldinho burst down the left before cutting the ball back to Eto'o. The Cameroon striker then passed to midfielder Iniesta who, lying just outside the area, powered a low shot past diving goalkeeper Georgi Petkov.
However, the home team then allowed the Bulgarians, lacking suspended defender Lucio Wagner and injured striker Valeri Domovchiyski, to enjoy a 15-minute spell of possession.
Torrential rain began to fall in the 30th before Barcelona regained control on a slippery field, with Eto'o firing wide in the 33rd and Ronaldinho testing Petrov with a drive four minutes later.
Following a swiftly taken free kick, Giuly doubled the lead in the 39th when he took advantage of a slip by defender Igor Tomasic to lift the ball over the outstretched Petrov.
Barcelona's third goal arrived in the 49th minute after Petkov parried Ronaldinho's low free kick into the path of Puyol and the defender made no mistake from close range.
Eto'o moved his way between two Levski defenders before poking the ball home with his left foot for Barcelona's final goal nine minutes later.
Conditions became increasingly difficult in the closing stages although Eto'o and substitute Eidur Gudjohnsen came close to adding to Barcelona's winning margin. Levski substitute Miroslav Ivanov also nearly scored in injury time.
Ronaldinho sealed the victory just before the final whistle in spectacular fashion when he curled a shot home off Petkov's left post from the edge of the area. (AP)
Topics mentioned in this article
Football
Levski Sofia
Barcelona
AC Milan
Samuel Eto'o
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