UEFA Champions League: Manchester United, Barcelona Win At Home

United could have finished the game off in the 53rd minute when they were granted a penalty kick, but Nani missed from the spot. He took a long stutter-step on his run-up and didn’t fool Muslera, who saved easily. That miss made for some nervy moments in the second half, but United had little problem holding on for a win.

Fletcher’s return came 11 minutes from the end of the match, and he entered to a fantastic standing ovation. Even though Carrick’s goal was an excellent one, it was the clear highlight of the match.

Braga were the dominant force early on, but as they pressed for a goal they opened up at the back, and Cluj were on hand to take full advantage of that. Modou Sougou broke down the left wing and raced towards Beto’s goal, eventually squaring for Rafael Bastos. The striker’s shot from the edge of the area was perfectly placed, leaving the goalkeeper no chance and Cluj up by one.

It was the same story for the whole second half. Braga attack, somehow fail to score, and then let Cluj break. Just after the half hour mark, Pantelis Kapetanos had a golden opportunity to make it 2-0 on another counterattack, but put the ball just wide of Beto’s left post. No matter -- Bastos was on hand again to slot home on yet another fast break, doubling Cluj’s lead and providing them with all the cushion they needed to see the game out.

Bayern’s best opportunity early on came in the 20th minute when Kroos ripped a left footed shot that Diego Alves had to make a diving save on to keep the match scoreless. Kroos had the freedom to press forward as often as he wanted with Javi Martinez and Schweinsteiger behind him in the holding roles.

Kroos’ right foot finally struck gold in the 78th minute. Holger Badstuber, playing at left back tonight, fed Kroos, and the midfielder took one touch to settle before sending a shot across to the far post beating Alves. The goal was coming for Kroos tonight as he kept peppering the Valencia goal and testing Alves.

In the 29th minute, Spartak’s Emmanuel Emenike blew past Barca’s high line and sent a low cross that nutmegged Alex Song as he attempted to clear before rolling to Alves who inexplicably did a fancy back hell move and easily beat a stunned Victor Valdes. It was a beautiful ugly own goal.

As the minutes ticked away you thought Spartak might be able to hold on, but their fate was of course inevitable.

Cristian Tello cheered up the home crowd two minutes after Pique’s injury with a lovel right footed strike from around 20-yards out. Xavi made the pass to get Tello the ball and the 21-year Spaniard did the rest as he got Spartak defender Kirill Kombarov to go to ground and then jumped right by him and beat Andriy Dykan with a low shot to the far post.

Definitely an entertaining first 45 minutes at the Camp Nou, the second half should be extremely interesting.

Barca will be fretting the news about Pique’s foot in the coming days and potentially lamenting not adding some center back depth in the summer. Fortunately though for today, they’re already up 1-0 thanks to Cristian Tello.

For more on the Blaugrana, head over to FC Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes. We’ll have coverage of every match in our UEFA Champions League Wednesday StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

Barcelona are back for another bite at the Champions League apple looking to get the bad taste from last season’s tournament out of their mouths. Despite losing to eventual champions Chelsea, Barca basically dominated the tie everywhere but the one place it really mattered. The past is the past though, and the Blaugrana will look to take their place back at the top of Europe

The biggest question facing Emery and Spartak is one of formation. He’s shown to prefer a 4-2-3-1 alignment with one of two strikers, Emmanuel Emenike or Artem Dzyuba, up top, but given Barca’s firepower, he could elect to go with a more conservative formation in an attempt to keep the game in front of them. Spartak have good team speed however and tend to already play a counter attacking style, so Barca will need to be sharp defensively or face getting stung by the Russian side.

United had a notorious encounter with the Turkish club in 1993, with an incredible 3-3 draw at Old Trafford preceding an infamous reception in Istanbul which stifled the Red Devils into a 0-0 draw which saw them make a shock early exit. That game was one of the catalysts for provoking the changes necessary to transform United into a club that could compete at the highest level in Europe, and while Ferguson said he would not be going back to Turkey, he could not have imagined that he would be doing so again almost twenty years later.

Despite that, United will be expected to gain a comfortable victory here, and even with a slightly weakened team should do so with ease. If they can do so without picking up any additional injuries and whilst keeping some players fresh for that encounter at Anfield, then Ferguson will be delighted.

Match Date/Time: Wednesday, 2:45 p.m. ET, 7:45 p.m. local

Venue: Stamford Bridge, London, England