Barcelona won their opening Champions League game but that was no more than could be expected. Indeed, it was less than most expected and they could have got less still. In the very last minute German goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen, one of three players making his competitive debut for the club, made a save that secured a 1-0 victory over Cypriot side Apoel Nicosia. Gerard Piqué scored the only goal with a header from a free-kick midway through the first half.
Αctually Barcelona survived a tough challenge from APOEL Nicosia and earned a 1-0 win in their first UEFA Champions League match of the season.
Gerard Pique had a great match on both ends of the pitch, scoring the only goal while helping preserve the clean sheet in the victory. The win gives the Spanish club three points and an early lead in Group F after Ajax Amsterdam and Paris Saint-Germain played to a 1-1 draw.
Barcelona’s Coach Luis Enrique was able to celebrate his managerial debut in the Champions League with three points, but just as he had warned beforehand, the APOEL Nicosia presented a far tougher challenge than many had predicted. Despite dominating almost of the play, Barça only found the net once.
APOEL issued the occasional warning that the game was by no means over, and if Dani Alves hadn’t been there to sort things out, a 61st minute counter attack by the Cypriots could have caused serious damage.
Dramatic finale
Munir did find the net after 68 minutes, but there was no arguing when the referee blew for offside, and it looked like the game was grinding to a halt before a flurry of incidents in the final minutes had the 62,832 strong crowd on the edge of their seats.
Sandro’s long range drive whizzed just wide of the APOEL post, a Messi attempt was deflected away by Carlao and seconds later the Argentinian pounced on a rebound from a Neymar shot and Mario Segio miraculously managed to get his body in the away and present what had looked like a certain goal.
Then, with seconds of injury time left, Manduca finally got APOEL’s first real shot of the whole game on target. Ter Stegen, who had had very little to do for 90 minutes, produced a stunning diving save. And that’s how it ended, with Barça taking three hard earned points, and coupled with the 1-1 draw between Ajax and PSG, they go straight to the top of Champions League group F.
