Barcelona

Barcelona 5 Shakhtar Donetsk 1

Barcelona march on relentlessly in Europe and they do not even have to be at their truly sublime best. Their defence was ragged, they were given a proper test by a team of real pedigree and yet they still won with oceans to spare.

Daniel Alves celebrates scoring Barcelona's second goal against Shakhtar

A four-goal cushion to take to Donetsk’s formidable fortress in the second leg of this quarter final means they can now already start plotting for a semi-final and an extraordinary sequence of four games in 15 days against Real Madrid following their deadly rivals’ hammering of Spurs.

Heck, we may well soon be all Clasico-ed out and you would not be surprised if Jose Mourinho’s men end up all Barca-ed out too.

Josep Guardiola was only too aware of the potential dangers since a poorer Shakhtar side than this had beaten his men here the last time the teams had met in December 2008. His concern was to ensure a decent cushion for the return to Donetsk, where Shakhtar have not been beaten in 55 matches stretching back two and a half years, so a fast start was imperative.

His wish was their command. Almost before the strains of their infernal club anthem had died down, they had taken the lead with their very first attack. Lionel Messi, with some inevitability, started it with a probing through ball and when the ball pinged off two Shakhtar defenders like a pinball, Andres Iniesta picked up the scraps, scuttling through to slot beneath Andriy Pyatov.

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