FC Barcelona hosted German Club Bayern Leverkusen in their Group E game. The final result was a 2 - 1 local win after the German started strong & put Barça under difficulties, to later see how Bayern Leverkusen missed chances & fizzed out to have FC Barcelona grow & comeback.
Barça started with Ter Stegen; Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Mathieu; Busquets, Iniesta, Rakitic; Sandro, Suarez & Neymar, with young Sandro filling in for the injured Messi.
The Germans began dangerously with Barça goalie Ter Stegen needing to make a save in the 1st min. The Germans kept counter-attacking & quiet frankly the Barça defence looked a mess. The opener came from a Leverkusen corner headed in the 22nd min when Papadopoukis scored. Barça was rattled & Bayern was creating more opportunities BUT also missing their chances. Leverkusen would pay dearly later for all their misses.
The second half saw Barça lift as Bayern continued to miss goal opportunities & fell to the extraordinary physical effort from the first 45 mins. The Germans renounced to attack & defended more allowing Barça to retake the initiative.
It was´nt long that the opportunities began to arise for Barça & the equalizer came in the 80th min through substitute Sergi Roberto. But in the 82nd min Luis Suarez shot & scored the second to put Barça ahead. The comeback had been achieved.
Bayern Leverkusen will be disappointed that they were not able to "kill off" Barça when they had the Spaniards against the ropes. They simply missed too many goal chances.
Lastly, bad news for Barça who lost Iniesta to a hamstring pull that will keep him off the pitch for a few weeks. Barcelona is having a bad run with injuries, Messi the most notable who was definitely missed tonight as Barça is not a fluid as with him on the field.
Valencia CF travelled to France to face Olympique Lyon in their Group H match. The end result was a worked 0 - 1 victory for the Spaniards. A very even & competitive Football match that saw Valencia get ahead in the 43rd min through Feghouli. The French then lifted looking for the equalizer & "bombarded" the Valencia goal, but the Spanish defence held firm to all the local teams attacks. The hero for Valencia was their goalkeeper Jaume, which says everything about the 2º half of this game.
Tomorrow more Champions League matches with Real Madrid, Atletico de Madrid & Sevilla FC down for their respective Group games.
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