Barcelona 4 - Udinese 1

Barcelona: Víctor Valdés; Belletti, Oleguer, Puyol, Van Bronckhorst; Deco, Xavi, Van Bommel (Iniesta 62'); Messi (Ezquerro 70'), Eto'o (Larsson 81'), Ronaldinho. 4-3-3.
Udinese: De Sanctis, Zenoni, Natali (Juárez 33'), Bertotto, Felipe, Candela; Obodo, Vidigal, Sulley Muntari (Di Michele 73'); Barreto, Di Natale (Mauri 51'). 5-3-2.

Goals:
1-0. 13. Ronaldinho. Curled free kick over defensive wall into top corner of net.
1-1. 24. Felipe. Got ahead of Belletti to meet corner and fire shot past De Sanctis.
2-1. 32. Ronaldino. Placed shot wide of keeper after Eto'o laid ball back
3-1. 41. Deco. Bent free kick over wall into top of net after Ronaldinho dummy.
4-1. 90. Ronaldinho (penalty). After Ronaldinho himself pushed over by Felipe.

Barcelona took another big step towards a place in the next round with a comfortable 4-1 win over Udinese. The hero of the night was hat-trick man Ronaldinho, although all the pre-match build up was about Messi, who had just been granted dual Spanish and Argentinian nationality and who was in the starting line up. The youngster lit up the crowd early on with a run and shot which De Sanctis did well to save, minutes before Ronaldinho opened the scoring with a magnificent free kick into the top corner of the net.

Van Bommel went close with a lob over the keeper and Messi put another effort just wide, but the Italians were starting to find their feet and Di Natale and Candella both put Valdés to the test. And soon afterwards Felipe got ahead of Belletti to connect with a long corner and fire home the equaliser.

After that though the Catalans regained control, Messi shooting just over following a corner and Vidigal clearing off the line from Eto'o with the keeper beaten. And a few minutes later Messi won the ball in midfield and sent Eto'o away for him to lay the ball back from the by-line. Messi stood to one side, and Ronaldinho steam-rollered in to side-foot the ball in to the back of the net.

The show continued, and by half time it was three, Ronaldinho dummying to take a free kick but leaving it to Deco, who bent it over the wall past the unsighted De Sanctis. The two men who Rijkaard had rested at the weekend had done their job, and the game was virtually over, especially when Vidigal was sent off four minutes in to the second half after picking up a second booking.

The pace slowed down after the break, but Barça were still in charge. Eto'o and Ronaldinho both had chances before Eto'o was replaced by Larsson, the striker clearly upset (he said about chants from the crowd against Valdés) as he walked off the pitch. There was still time though for Ronaldinho to win himself a penalty which he himself converted to complete his hat-trick. That made it eight goals from two games, and Barça are back on track.