Magic Touch

Barcelona 2-0 Dynamo Kiev

Barcelona made it four points from two games in their Champions League group after confidently seeing off Dynamo Kiev.

Lionel Messi put the Catalan giants on their way with the opening goal in the 26th minute before half-time substitute Pedro Rodriguez sealed a fairly comfortable victory with Barca's second 14 minutes from time.

Pep Guardiola's side, who drew 0-0 with Inter Milan in their opening match, now take over the Group F leadership from Dynamo, who beat Rubin Kazan 3-1 first time out but were outclassed tonight.

Barca led 1-0 at the break, but they should have been out of sight by that point after creating a series of chances that saw Dynamo goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy working over time.

Dynamo gave as good as they got in the opening stages but Barca soon started to dominate possession and territory and they made the breakthrough in the 25th minute.

Ibrahimovic was the outstanding player of the first half, but it was Messi who put Barca ahead as he picked up a good pass from Xavi, cut inside Leandro Almeida before rifling a low shot past Shovkovskiy.

Shovkovskiy will probably feel he could have done more with the effort as the ball squirmed under him, even though Messi's effort was well struck.

That goal was the catalyst for a sustained period of Barca pressure that saw the treble winners create at least four very good opportunities.

The first saw Messi denied by the onrushing Shovkovskiy in the 27th minute following a brilliant Ibrahimovic backheel, while five minutes later the Dynamo goalkeeper did well again to race out any deny Ibrahimovic after Xavi's perfectly-weighted pass had put the Sweden international clear.

Xavi then saw two of his own efforts saved by the busy Shovkovskiy as Guardiola's men continued to dominate.

The hosts almost suffered a surprise setback just before half-time when, against the run of play, Dynamo got the ball into the back of the Barca net following a rare foray forward.

However, Ognjen Vukojevic's celebrations were cut short due to an infringement and Barca could breathe again.

And it was back to business as usual soon after that as Shovkovskiy was again called upon on the stroke of half-time to make a crucial double save to deny Messi when one-on-one and then tip over Ibrahimovic's acrobatic volley from the rebound.

If anything, Barca were even more dominant after the break, although they found clear-cut chances harder to come by as Dynamo packed their defence.

On thing that did not change was the massive contributions of Ibrahimovic and Shovkovskiy for their respective sides.

Ibrahimovic twice tested Shovkovskiy, the first with a header and then with a low shot that the Dynamo stopper did superbly to push away one-handed, before the former Inter Milan hitman turned provider to help Barca finally get the two-goal cushion they were desperately seeking.

Ibrahimovic's low pass into the area found Pedro, and he controlled the ball, shifted it onto his left foot and slotted a low shot just inside the far post.

That was enough to guarantee the points would be staying at the Nou Camp, although Dynamo almost set a few hearts fluttering in the 87th minute when captain Artem Milevskiy's lob landed on the roof of the net after latching onto a poor headed back-pass by Sergio Busquets.

Source: http://www.espnstar.com/football/champions-league/news/detail/item331326/Barcelona-2-0-Dynamo-Kiev/