Barcelona 3 - Galatasaray 1

Barcelona: Enke; Reiziger, Puyol (Dani Tortolero 61'), Frank De Boer (Oleguer 86'), Fernando Navarro; Mendieta, Gerard; Geovanni (Kluivert 79'), Saviola, Motta; Dani. 4-2-3-1.
Galatasaray: Mondragón; Sarr, Bulent Korkmaz, Almaguer, Hakan Unsal; Fabio Pinto, Batista (Ayhan 61'), Haspolatli (Suat 46'), Ergun; Hasan Sas, Baljic (Christian 75'). 4-4-2.

Goals:
1-0. 10. Dani. Ran on to short Geovanni pass to foce shot past Mondragon.
1-1. 20. Haspolatli. Headed long cross down through Enke's legs.
2-1. 44. Gerard. Near post header across goal from Motta corner.
3-1. 56. Geovanni. Fired shot from 25 yards out into far bottom corner of goal.

Group H:
Barcelona..................... 18 points
Lokomotiv Moscow..... 7 points
Club Brugge................... 5 points
Galatasaray.................. 4 points

A depleted Barcelona side cruised to a 3-1 win against Galatasaray to end the first phase with six wins from six games, the first time ever that a Spanish side has achieved this at the group stages. Van Gaal left out several of his first choice players, giving an outing to Enke, Reiziger, Gerard, Geovanni and Dani, now fully recovered from a long injury.

Three of the replacements were to score the goals in this match, starting with Dani who picked up a short pass from Geovanni in the tenth minute to burst past the defence and force the ball past Mondragon in to the net. It was his first official goal in eighteen months, and could mean that his manager will allow him to stay to the end of the season after much talk of him moving on in January.

The Turkish side needed to win though to have a chance of staying in the competition, and they went close to scoring when Enke blocked a free kick from ex Real Madrid forward Baljic and Hasan Sas failed to reach the rebound with the goal gaping in front of him. A few minutes later they did draw level though after Haspolatli took advantage of an indecision in the defence to meet a long cross from the left and head the ball down through Enke's legs.

For a few minutes the two sides fought for superiority, and Baljic wasted the best chance of the match when De Boer slipped and let him through. However just before the break Gerard rose to head home Motta's corner to put the Spaniards back in the lead, and with Lokomotiv beating Club Brugge in the other group H match, Galatasaray were not even going to qualify for the UEFA cup spot.

Fatih Terim took a risk changing his goalscorer Haspolatli at the break to bring on Suat, but ten minutes later his side fell even further behind when Geovanni unleashed a magnificent strike from outside of the area to beat Mondragón. Saviola could have made it four when he turned Mendieta's cross on to the post, but Enke was forced to make consecutive saves from Hasan Sas and from substitute Christian near the end.

With a couple of minutes to go Christian headed against the post, but by them it was academic and the Turkish side were out of Europe.The eleven point gap between Barça and second placed Lokomotiv equals a Champions League record held by Spartak Moscow. They won't have it so easy in the second phase.