FC Barcelona Vs. Shakhtar Donetsk, 2011 UEFA Champions League: Two Goals In Two Crazy Minutes Makes Game 4-1

Well this has been an eventful three minutes. Immediately after Gerard Pique notched Barcelona’s third goal, Andres Iniesta picked up a completely needless booking which rules him out of the reverse fixture, which wouldn’t really have been so bad for Barcelona at 3-0. Unfortunately for the hosts, Shakhtar Donetsk decided that 3-0 wasn’t really their favourite scoreline and went ahead and did something about that. From the free kick, Javier Mascherano lost his man and allowed Yaroslav Rakitskiy to sneak in and flick a shot past Victor Valdes in the Barcelona goal. 3-1 wasn’t nearly so much fun the the hosts - no matter what the scoreline is, an away goal is an awful thing to concede.

But 4-1 is better than 3-1, so on the very next attack Barcelona did make it four. Lionel Messi was the man who provided the goal, his run drawing the entire Shakhtar defence to one side and creating a vast gulf of space for Seydou Keita. Messi’s inevitable pass was absolutely thumped into Andriy Pyatov to bring the hosts’ tally to four and re-establish that three-goal cushion.