FC Barcelona Versus Ferencvaros Champions League Result And What We Learned

At the Camp Nou on Tuesday, FC Barcelona took on Ferencvaros in the Champions League. Here’s the result, what happened and what we learned from the fixture.

There were big changes to Ronald Koeman’s line up

Dropping Antoine Griezmann, the Dutchman gave a Champions League starting debut to Francisco Trincao on the right wing and also Ansu Fati.

Junior Firpo not trusted for the job, Sergino Dest began at left back in place of Jordi Alba while Miralem Pjanic got his first offset nod so that Sergio Busquets could be rested.

A golazo disallowed

Breaking free on 10 minutes and then turning inside Clement Lenglet, Tokmac Nguen smashed into Neto’s top corner but was found to be offside when setting off on his run from near the halfway line. A wake up call for the hosts.

Messi was well up for this

Hitting a couple of soft free kicks within 11 minutes, the captain linked up well with Ansu Fati and had a shot on target that almost spilled out to the Spain international.

He then set up Coutinho nicely, for an effort the Brazilian hit wide of the post, before finally netting his first goal since opening day from the spot.

Brought down after a typical slalom run, the Argentine made no mistake and gave his side a bit of breathing space with close to half an hour gone.

A record was broken

With his strike, Messi became the first player to score in 16 consecutive UCL seasons.

That was welcomed

Between Messi’s key moments, Isael had smacked the bar and Barca looked suspect on counter attacks.

They won’t go far in this competition defending as carefree and disjointed.

Messi hit the bar, as Barca improved

Offside in any event, the 33-year-old smiled and seemed to be enjoying himself.

Gradually, Trincao was growing into the fixture and in confidence with some dangerous right flank runs. Getting his shot on target, the Portuguese was blocked but FCB looked lively all of a sudden.

Ansu made it 2-0

Following on from this, Frenkie de Jong played a delightful ball over the top for 17-year-old Fati to volley home with the outside of his foot past a helpless Denes Dibusz .

A sublime run and nice, though not as clean as he’d have liked, finish. Barca went down the tunnel on top.

And came back out of it continuing the theme

After six minutes of controlled possession, a fantastic team goal saw Messi take his time near the edge of the box and find Fati. Playing a delightful inside heel pass to the number 14, Ansu notched an assist when Coutinho finished with a low driven shot.

His first Barca goal on the continent since a certain golazo against Manchester United in the 2018/2019 quarterfinals, whereby he famously cupped his ears to whistles from the Camp Nou faithful.

A treble substitution from Koeman with an hour gone

El Clasico on the horizon, the coach brought on Pedri, Ousmane Dembele and Junior Firpo for Trincao, Fati and Sergi Robeto respectively.

No Pique for Juventus

Sent off for an idiotic pull of Tokmac’s shirt as the last man, the veteran center back will not feature in Turin a week from now in Barca’s toughest Group G fixture.

Kharatin scored the consequential penalty past Neto for the visitors to make it 3-1.

There were two more switches made by Koeman

Ronald Araujo replacing Coutinho as a means of compensating for Pique’s loss, Pjanic made way not long after for Sergio Busqets to play the last quarter of an hour.

A debut goal from Pedri

Provided through a magnificent run from Dembele, Fati’s fellow 17-year-old made a dream maiden outing in soccer’s biggest club competition by slotting into the bottom corner on 82 minutes. 4-1.

Dembouz got in on the act

Raising a closed fist in celebration, Dembele fired into the roof of the net from close range after a lovely lay off from Messi. Antoine Griezmann helped his compatriot celebrate from the stands, and in his short cameo the 23-year-old had been much better than against Getafe at the weekend.

This was the lift FC Barcelona needed

Koeman had said that recent bad form in a draw and loss either side of the international break could help the Blaugrana “get off on a good footing in the Champions League”.

This proved true, and now they go into a clash with Real Madrid on Saturday in raised spirits with many positives to take from this one despite Pique’s dismissal and a failure to keep a clean sheet.

The youngsters and/or debutants lived up to the task, Messi broke records and tired legs were rested.

Now on to the big one.