Barca misses chance to advance early in Champions League

Germany lost 0-1 at Shakhtar Donetsk in the fourth round of Group H of the Champions League, Barca's winning streak ended and they missed the chance to enter the knockout round two matches early.

The difference at the Volkspark - a neutral stadium in Hamburg, Germany, which Shakhtar have used as their home ground for European matches - came in the 40th minute. Giorgi Gocholeishvili sprinted down the right wing and crossed into the box for Danylo Sikan to escape Andreas Christensen's marking and head the ball across the corner beyond Marc-Andre ter Stegen's reach.

The ball goes into the net after a header by Sikan (striped shirt, left) during Barca's 0-1 loss to Shakhtar at the neutral Volkspark stadium in the fourth round of Group H of the Champions League, November 7. Photo: Reuters — The ball goes into the net after a header by Sikan (striped shirt, left) during Barca's 0-1 loss to Shakhtar at the neutral Volkspark stadium in the fourth round of Group H of the Champions League, November 7. Photo: *Reuters*

In the other match of Group H, Porto easily beat Antwerp 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Evanilson and Pepe. With these results, Barca and Porto share the top spot with nine points, Shakhtar has six points, and Antwerp has yet to win a point.

The defeat to Shakhtar has brought the fear of being eliminated from the group stage back to Barca. Coach Xavi and his team must beat Porto at home in the next match on November 28 to quickly secure a ticket to the next round and avoid the pressure of being away to Antwerp in the final match on December 13.

Barca have been eliminated in the group stage in the last two Champions League seasons. In the 2021-2022 season, the Catalan club finished third in the group stage and had to play in the Europa League - where they lost 3-4 on aggregate to Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals. A similar scenario played out last season, when Barca finished third in the group stage again, then lost 3-4 to Man Utd in the Europa League play-offs.

Having had the chance to secure a two-legged tie, Barca were lacklustre at the Volkspark. The visitors had 60% possession in the first half, but only three shots were off target. For the seventh time under Xavi, Barca failed to have a shot on target in the first half of a match in all competitions. They also had just five touches in the opposition box - their lowest tally under Xavi.

Barca's only notable attacks were inaccurate long-range shots from Ilkay Gundogan, Raphinha, and the situation where Robert Lewandowski collided with goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk in the penalty area but the referee did not award a penalty.

Lewandowski is closely marked by Oleksandr Zubkov during a dribble during the match at Volkspark on November 7. Photo: FC Barcelona — Lewandowski is closely marked by Oleksandr Zubkov during a dribble during the match at Volkspark on November 7. Photo: *FC Barcelona*

In the 59th minute, after falling behind, Xavi made four substitutions, bringing on Pedri, Joao Felix, Lamine Yamal and Alejandro Balde, but it was still not enough to help Barca improve the game. In the second half, the visitors only had one shot on goal - a close-range header from Gavi, who was marked by two Shakhtar players, and could not trouble Riznyk in the 61st minute.

On the contrary, Shakhtar would have won by a bigger margin if they had taken advantage of their chances. In the 48th minute, Gocholeishvili eliminated Marcos Alonso and then shot from a tight angle but failed to beat Ter Stegen. About 10 minutes later, Danylo Sikan shot from a similar angle, but still failed to beat the Barca goalkeeper. In the 87th minute, from an attack on the left wing, Newerton turned into the penalty area and shot into the visitors' net, but the goal was disallowed due to an offside.

Barca have continued their slump, losing two of their last three games in all competitions, compared to one defeat in their previous 15. Lewandowski has failed to score in his last six games in all competitions - his longest such run since failing to score in 10 consecutive games for Dortmund between December 2010 and February 2011.

Line-up :

Shakhtar Donetsk : Riznyk, Gocholeishvili, Bondar, Rakitskiy, Matviyenko, Stepanenko (Nazaryna 72), Zubkov, Kryskiv, Sudakov, Newerton (Shved 90), Sikan (Kelsy 62).

Barca : Ter Stegen, Cancelo, Araujo, Christensen, Alonso (Balde 59), Gundogan, Romeu (Pedri 59), Gavi (Lopez 81), Raphinha (Yamal 59), Lewandowski, Ferran Torres (Felix 59).

Hong Duy

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