PSV 1 – 2 Barcelona

Report La Liga Champions Win 12th Consecutive Season

Barcelona finished first in Group B of the Champions League with a 2-1 victory over PSV inspired by Lionel Messi in Eindhoven.

Messi opened the scoring in Barca with his superb sixth goal of the campaign an hour before cleverly deceiving Gerard Pique for his second goal in 70 minutes.

PSV had to win to keep its low hopes in the Europa League and hit the wood three times in the first half, but the consolation of Luuk de Jong came too late when the champion of the Netherlands escaped from the # 39; Europe.

With this victory, Barcelona is the winner of the group in the Champions League for the 12th consecutive season and the 20th time of the general.

PSV knew they had to win or go bankrupt if they stayed in Europe on New Year, and they did everything except scoring goals in the first half.

After coaching Marc-Andre ter Stegen in a tiny shutdown after four minutes, Gaston Pereiro scored the left quarter of the ball lost on Ivan Rakitic and almost punished the Barcelona midfielder as he made a shot against the post.

Pereiro should have given PSV the advantage in the middle of the half when De Jong put the ball in his path and he moved away from Spades, but his shot went a long way.

Barca started playing in the half when Arturo Vidal scored two clearing attempts, but PSV came closer at halftime, while De Jong lifted his head off the crossbar and Denzel Dumfries. pulled a follow up against the post.

But the PSV was forced to pay for a catalog of failures by another mesmeric Messi effort.

After launching an attack and recovering the ball from Ousmane Dembele, the Argentinian was away from four defenders before spinning towards Jeroen Zoet, unstoppable at the first post, with a very weak uplift back.

Messi then helped the game beyond PSV, preparing to shoot a free kick before choosing Pique, who diverted the ball beyond Zoet beyond 12 yards.

PSV pushed and pushed for a goal and finally broke the Barca 's resolution when De Jong gave advantage to a center from Angelino to score on the left, after 82 minutes of play, but l? Equalization escaped them at a party that belonged to Messi.

Opta Stats

• Barcelona will finish as the winner of its group in the Champions League for the 12th consecutive season. This race starts in 2007-08.
• PSV has no win in its last 13 games in the Champions League (D5 L8), conceding at least two goals to each of its last five.
• Barcelona has lost only one of its eight games against the Netherlands in the Champions League (W5 D2), winning each of the last four games in a row.
• Barcelona striker Lionel Messi scores a goal every 45 minutes in the Champions League this season (6 goals, 270 minutes); the best minutes / goals ratio of all the players in the competition.
• Lionel Messi scored 106 goals for Barcelona in the Champions League; the most by one player for a single team in the competition.

Man of the Match – Lionel Messi

Who else? The little maestro took his time to score the game but when he did, it was worth the wait. Messi was the only catalyst for Barcelona's victory in a match that they probably should have lost. He was far from his best hypnotist, but the balance and accuracy with which he achieved his goal was nothing short of sublime.

And after?

PSV will travel to Feyenoord in the Eredivisie at 13:30, while Barcelona will host Villarreal in La Liga at 17:30.