barcelona stroll 3-0 win over panathinaikos

PedroRodriguez scored in each half as Barcelona strolled into the ChampionsLeague last 16 as Group D winners with a 3-0 victory over Panathinaikoson Wednesday.

After Djibril Cisse had missed an early opportunity for the hosts,Barcelona broke the deadlock in the 27th minute with Rodriguezconverting Daniel Alves's threaded pass.

Second-half goals from Lionel Messi, who netted for the 10th gamein succession for club and country, and Rodriguez sealed a comfortablewin for Josep Guardiola's side, who remain top of Group D with 11points.

The result, coupled with Rubin Kazan's 1-0 win over FC Copenhagen, eliminated Panathinaikos.

Panathinaikos seemed content to watch their opponents weave theirmagical passing patterns in the first half and wait for a chance on thecounter.

It was a ploy which almost worked as newly-appointed Panathinaikoscaptain Cisse should have opened the scoring when he was sent clear byLazaros Christodoulopoulos's superb pass. The Frenchman was denied by asmart save from Valdes.

Barca continued to press forward, and the hosts' diligent backline was finally undone by Alves, who played in Rodriguez.

Keeper Alexandros TzorvasTzorvas was then called into action twicein the space of a minute before halftime for saves from Rodriguez andDavid Villa.

The Greens' goalkeeper continued to do his best to thwart Barcaand Adriano in particular after halftime, acrobatically palming tosafety two powerful shorts from the Barca left back.



EL CLASSICO

But he could do nothing to deny Messi his sixth Champions Leaguestrike of the season two minutes after the hour mark as the Argentinebundled home a pass from Adriano and good work by Andres Iniesta.

Iniesta was the provider of Barca's third goal, sending over aleft-wing cross which was converted from close range with consummateease by Rodriguez to seal an impressive win.

Guardiola praised his goalkeeper Victor Valdes, who made an impressive save on a one-on-one with Cisse.

"Valdes made a fantastic save to stop Cisse, he is a great playerwho never disappoints us," said Guardiola, whose team face Real Madridin the El Classico derby next Monday.

"It was important that we raised our performance in the secondhalf, we played a good passing game and we scored good goals. We are invery good shape right now but this doesn't guarantee success. Everygame is different, and I expect the match against Real to be adifferent proposition."

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