Iniesta sparks Barca to home rout

SOCCER: Barcelona 5 Shakhtar Donetsk 1BARCELONA SEIZED control of their Champions League quarter-final against Shakhtar Donetsk when an early Andres Iniesta strike paved the way for a first-leg victory at the Nou Camp last night.

The Spain midfielder punished a defensive error by the Ukrainian side in the second minute when he picked up a loose ball and burst through to finish low inside the near post.

Brazil fullback Dani Alves raced through unmarked to Iniesta’s curled pass to double the home side’s lead in the 34th minute, and centre half Gerard Pique made it 3-0 eight minutes after half-time with a deflected shot from a corner.

Yaroslav Rakitskiy briefly checked Barca’s domination in the 59th minute when he flicked the ball past Victor Valdes, but Seydou Keita smashed the ball into the top corner from the edge of the area a minute later.

Xavi tapped in the fifth after 86 minutes to make what had looked a potentially tricky second leg in Donetsk appear a formality as a semi-final between 2009 champions Barca and arch-rivals Real Madrid looms.

Real also have one foot in the semis after a 4-0 thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur at the Bernabeu on Tuesday.

That would set up the mouth-watering prospect of four El Clasicos in the space of little more than two weeks, with the clubs also due to meet in La Liga on Saturday week and in the Spanish Cup final on Wednesday, April 20th.

Barca coach Pep Guardiola had warned his side about the threat of Shakhtar prior to kick-off, revealing he did not have a “good feeling” about the prospect of playing Mircea Lucescu’s outfit.

Shakhtar, the 2009 Europa League winners, briefly threatened the Barca goal after falling behind but were fortunate in the end not to suffer a greater margin of defeat as the hosts rained in shots at their goals.

Luiz Adriano, who also hit the post late on, sped through on goal in the 12th minute but sent a weak shot wide, and Willian narrowly missed the target a minute later with a long-range effort when Valdes was caught off his line.

However, they proved incapable of stemming the tide flowing in the other direction.

GuardianService

BARCELONA: Valdes, Dani Alves, Pique, Busquets, Adriano Correia (Maxwell 77), Xavi, Mascherano, Keita, Villa (Pedro 70), Iniesta (Afellay 90), Messi. Subs not used: Mino, Bojan, Milito, Thiago. Booked: Iniesta.

SHAKHTAR DONETSK: Pyatov, Srna, Ischenko, Rakitskiy, Rat, Hubschman (Eduardo 83), Mkhitaryan, Douglas Costa, Jadson (Fernandinho 70), Willian (Alex Teixeira 75), Luiz Adriano. Subs not used: Khudzamov, Kobin, Stepanenko, Chyzhov. Booked: Rat, Rakitskiy, Fernandinho.

Referee: Craig Thomson (Scotland).