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European Champions League

Barcelona 5 - Shakhtar Donetsk 1

Barcelona: Víctor Valdés; Dani Alves, Piqué, Busquets, Adriano (Maxwell 77'); Xavi, Mascherano, Keita; David Villa (Pedro 69'), Messi, Iniesta (Afellay 91'). 4-3-3.
Shakhtar: Pyatov; Srna, Ishchenko, Rakitskiy, Rat; Mkhitaryan, Hübschman (Edu 83'); Douglas Costa, Jadson (Fernandinho 69'), Willian (Alex Teixeira 74'); Luiz Adriano. 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
1-0. 02. Iniesta. Picked up deflected Messi pass and struck low shot past Pyatov.
2-0. 33. Dani Alves. Beat offside trap to control Iniesta pass and round keeper.
3-0. 54. Piqué. Turned in shot from Xavi corner which took deflection off Rakitskiy.
3-1. 59. Rakitskiy. Got ahead of defence to deflect Srna free kick wide of Valdés.
4-1. 60. Keita. Fired shot in to top corner of net after Messi crossed in from right.
5-1. 86. Xavi. Got on the end of Dani Alves cross to steer shot wide of Pyatov.

The much vaunted semi-final meeting between Barcelona and Real Madrid is looking almost certain after Barcelona thrashed Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 on Wednesday. Guardiola's fears of a dangerous rival proved unfounded as Iniesta picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area to open the scoring with less than two minutes on the clock. Willian and Luiz Adriano had a couple of chances each though as the Ukrainian side came close to levelling the scores, but with just under half an hour gone Dani Alves beat the offside trap to control a high pass from Iniesta and take the ball round Pyatov to score a second. Piqué made it three some eight minutes in to the second half following a set-piece corner, and although Rakitskiy got one back from Srna's free kick, Keita restored the three goal cushion just a minute later after Messi set him up. The action continued, Luiz Adriano unlucky to see a shot bounce off the far post back in to the hands of Valdés, and Messi having a strike ruled out for a borderline offside. Xavi put the result beyond Shakhtar's reach though with a fifth goal near the end, taking us to within ninety minutes of what will be four matches in 18 days between the two Spanish giants.