Barcelona closes Champions League campaign with victory over cheeky Plzen


Tuesday, November 1, 2022 at 10:54 PM• Noel Korteweg • Last update: 23:36

Barcelona closed this season’s disappointing Champions League campaign with a win. The Catalans no longer played for anything against Viktoria Plzen – as Barcelona had already been sentenced to the knockout phase of the Europa League last week – but still managed to win 2-4. The home team was brutal and did not just give in at home, but eventually had to bow to the club from Spain.

Xavi completely turned his team around in the Czech Republic and gave the chance to reserve goalkeeper Iñaki Peña, who only played his first game of the season for the Catalans. The young midfielder Pablo Torre was also allowed to start from the kick-off. The Spaniard therefore made his debut in the Champions League. Frenkie de Jong, Pedri and Ousmane Dembélé, among others, were on the bench. That didn’t stop Plzen, who also didn’t care about anything anymore, from going full for the win.

However, the away team quickly took the lead via Marcos Alonso, who could easily pass the ball over the goal line. Plzen, however, did not give up easily. For example, after twenty minutes, Tomás Chory came very close to the equalizer. The Czech attacker headed from a free kick to the bar, which immediately warned Barcelona. A few minutes later, Peña had to come into action himself with a nice save. Still, Xavi’s team was able to extend the margin to two before halftime. Raphinha saw Jordi Alba’s running action, after which the left back passed the ball to Ferran Torres. The attacker did what he had to do and hit: 0-2.

Shortly after the break, the home team scored the deserved connecting goal. The Czechs were in no way inferior to the Catalans in the first act. It was Chory who brought Plzen to 1-2 via a penalty. Torres made it 1-3 just three minutes later after a nice combination with Raphinha, but Plzen came back to 2-3 after an hour of play. Adam Vlkanova put the ball on Chory’s head with a nice cross, who nodded in. Torre decided the game fifteen minutes before time. The midfielder shot hard into the roof of the goal from close range: 2-4. In the final phase, Plzen midfielder Erik Jirka hit the post, but another goal was not in it for the Czechs.