UEFA Champion League- Barcelona Vs Viktoria Plzeň
Good evening everyone and welcome
to our live blog Barcelona vs Viktoria Plzen on the opening night of the
2022/23 Champions League group stage. Barcelona will take part in the 2022–23
Champions League and top Group C thanks to a 5-1 victory over Viktoria Plzen at
Spotify Camp Nou in the first group stage on Wednesday night. [Sources: 4, 6]
Robert Lewandowski scored a
hat-trick in his first Champions League game for Barcelona to lead the Catalans
to a 5-1 home win over Victoria Pearson on Wednesday. With a brilliant
hat-trick from Robert Lewandowski and Barcelona's long-awaited impressive
victory in a game, Plzen was stunned by their creativity and speed. [Sources:
3, 5]
However, in Wednesday's 2-0
victory over Viktoria Pilsen at Camp Nou, there were still moments when
Barcelona went all out. Considering what Barcelona fans have had to watch over
the past few years, it was a refreshing scene. [Sources: 2, 7]
With the squad changing so much
ahead of today's game and Barcelona having had a Champions League embarrassment
in the past at the Camp Nou, Barcelona were desperate for a quick start on the
scoresheet. The Catalans resumed play exactly where they left off, but the
first 20 minutes of the second half were relatively lackluster. In the first half,
Barcelona had 81% possession on 12 shots. [Sources: 0, 1]
The first half was a bit slow,
with Barcelona in control of most of the possession, trying to create risky
chances against Pilsen's deep defence. Which seemed more comfortable from
Barça's point of view after Pilsen scored a goal a few minutes earlier. Or, if
Barcelona wanted to take it one step further, they could have scored more goals
to widen their 1-0 lead over Pilsen. [Sources: 1]
With six current members of the
Czech national team to play in Euro 2012 if they beat Montenegro in the next
European play-offs, Viktorija Pilsen managed to dictate the game over a
10-minute period in the first half, where they managed to avoid the
beehive-ridden pressing regime set by Barcelona, and actually played
impressive football. Shortly thereafter, a brilliant finish by Robert
Lewandowski gave Barcelona a 2-0 lead and although Jan Sikora pulled Plzeň by
one, Lewandowski led his second and third teams in first-half injury time after
Ousmane Dembele's excellent performance. Robert Lewandowski scored his first
hat-trick in the 2022–23 Champions League with Barcelona when he received an
assist from Ferran Torres and landed a stunning spiral shot into the bottom
corner at 4-1 with Ferran completing his superb cameo as substitutions with a
sensational volley into the net after Dembele's excellent pass, which led to
the five in favor of the hosts. [Sources: 2, 5, 6]
##### Sources #####
[0]:
https://barcauniversal.com/barcelona-5-1-viktoria-plzen-match-review/
[1]:
https://barcabuzz.com/2022/09/match-review-fc-barcelona-vs-viktoria-plzen-5-1
[2]: https://
bleacherreport.com/articles/901976-barcelona-maddeningly-frustrating-in-2-0-victory-over-viktoria-plzen
[3]:
https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/football/2022/09/08/barcelona-player-ratings-v-viktoria-plzen-lewandowski-10-dembele-9-kounde-8/
[4]:
https://www.marca.com/en/football/champions-league/barcelona-plzen-directo/2022/09/07/01_0103_20220907_178_2703.html
[5]:
https://www.eurosport.com/football/champions-league/2022-2023/barcelona-v-viktoria-plzen-follow-live_sto9126329/story.shtml
[6]:
https://www.barcablaugranes.com/2022/9/7/23341258/barcelona-viktoria-plzen-champions-league-final-score-match-report-recap-reactions
[7]:
https://www.goal.com/en-us/lists/lewandowski-barcelona-winners-losers-and-ratings-as-ex-bayern-star-hits-hat-trick-vs-viktoria-plzen/blta63aa7b6915228ed
