Barcelona have opened their Champions League campaign with a 3-2 win at home against Spartak Moscow.
Two goals from Lionel Messi helped Tito Vilanova's men to come back from 2-1 down to grab all three points from the opening game of Group G.
Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look to see if the result was fair.
Match statistics:
Barcelona:
Shots 18
On target 6
Possession 72%
Corners 8
Fouls 4
Spartak Moscow:
Shots 6
On target 2
Possession 28%
Corners 3
Fouls 16
Was the result fair?
Yes. Spartak worked very hard, and had they earned a point you would say that it was well deserved. However, they tired towards the end and their resistence was broken. If you set up your team to play the way Spartak did tonight - that is to say, defensively - then you cannot complain if you are eventually defeated.
Barcelona's performance
6/10. They were average tonight, by their own high standards. The first half was played at pedestrian pace, which suited them when they were in the lead. They allowed Spartak back into the match and the Russian side went ahead in the second half. That sparked a reaction, and the introductions of Alexis Sanchez and David Villa injected some urgency to proceedings. That's when Barca won the match.
Spartak Moscow's performance
7/10. It's strange giving a team that lost a higher rating than the team that won, but when the team that won is Barcelona then perhaps the team that won are being victimised for their success. I'm giving them a seven as they did what they were obviously told to very well. Their defending was dogged and they eventually ran themselves into the ground. It's no surprise to see their foul count so high, as a lot of the niggly fouls just broke up the play and frustrated Barca.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Christian Tello: The winger had a great night, scoring one and creating another. Special mention goes to Emmanuel Emenike, who ran his socks off for Spartak.
Biggest gaffe of the match
Dani Alves's own goal was the only realy gaffe. He had to get something on Emenike's cross to stop Ari from being presented with a certain goal. However, the only thing he could do was bundle it past Victor Valdes.
Referee performance
Milorad Mazic had a good game. He was not given much to do, apart from lots of little fouls by Spartak - nothing malicious.
What next?
Barcelona: The Catalan club travel to Benfica for their next Champions League fixture on Tuesday, October 2.
Spartak: Celtic make the trip to Moscow for Spartak's next game on the same night.
Michael Penkman
