Home streak ends

Barcelona tops Galatasaray 1-0, makes quarterfinals

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- Luis Enrique's 58th-minute strike sent FC Barcelona through to the quarterfinals of Champions League with a 1-0 victory over Galatasaray on Tuesday.

The goal ended a 20-match unbeaten home run for the Turks in European competition, stretching back over two years. Coupled with Liverpool's home win over AS Roma, it handed Barcelona first place in Group B, sparing them a quarterfinal matchup with archrival Real Madrid.

In a cagey first half, both sides often seemed more concerned with avoiding defeat -- even though both needed victory to be certain of progressing to the last eight.

Barcelona forced the first save with a thunderous 35-meter (yard) free kick after 17 minutes that Ferid Mondragon parried. From the rebound, Galatasaray broke swiftly, and Umit Karan nearly got in on goal before goalkeeper Roberto Oscar Bonano snatched the ball.

Galatasaray's big defender Emre Asik came closest to putting the Turks ahead. Twice he got above the Barca defense to meet crosses from the left, but both efforts sailed over.

Hasan Sas had Galatasaray's other notable chance in the half, squeezing into the penalty area in the 29th minute but poking a volley straight at Bonano.

Soon after the restart, Berkant Goktan hit a snap volley from 20 meters (yards) but it skidded wide.

Barca went ahead in the 58th. Marc Overmars, whose direct running had occasionally troubled the Turkish defense, jinked around two defenders and fired a low shot that Mondragon should have held but could only parry. Luis Enrique was there to stab home the loose ball.

Galatasaray nearly leveled a minute later when Umit Karan lobbed the keeper, but Francesco Coco headed the ball off the line.

Overmars nearly created Barcelona's second in the 65th minute, squaring from the byline for Patrick Kluivert, whose layoff set up Luis Enrique to shoot over.

Mondragon did well in the 78th minute to scoop a driven shot from Kluivert over the bar, then defender Abelardo headed narrowly over the bar from the resulting corner.

At the other end, Galatasaray found little room to create scoring chances. Their best efforts mostly came from a distance, like Berkant's 80th-minute free kick that was saved low to his left by Bonano.

"We were very focused and we made none of the stupid mistakes that we have made in the past," said Barcelona coach Carles Rexach, adding that the result should be enough to silence critics who have called for his head.

"They had a bit of luck this evening," Galatasaray coach Mircea Lucescu said. "They scored first. We had a chance and if we'd equalised then it might have been different.

"It's the difference between luck and error," Lucescu said. "Barcelona had luck and we made a lot of basic mistakes.

"In the second half the class of players like [Patrick] Kluivert and Overmars began to show," he added, congratulating Barcelona on what he said was a well-deserved success in a closely fought group.

Given a week off in the domestic league, Galatasaray should have been well rested after their controversial clash with Roma last week which ended in a mass brawl involving players, coaching staff and stewards.

But Lucescu said the events in Rome had taken their toll.

"You can't just erase what happened there. We saw tonight that we still haven't recovered mentally after Rome."

Summary

Galatasaray 0 Barcelona 1 - result

Champions League second stage, group B

Scorer: Luis Enrique 58

Halftime: 0-0

Teams:

Galatasaray: 1-Faryd Mondragon; 3-Bulent Korkmaz, 5-Emre Asik, 6-Arif Erdem (8-Suat Kaya 74), 7-Berkant Goktan, 9-Umit Karan, 11-Hasan Sas, 15-Sebastien Perez (35-Capone 79), 18-Ayhan Akman (26-Radu Niculescu 62), 23-Andres Fleurquin, 67-Ergun Penbe

Barcelona: 1-Roberto Bonano, 5-Abelardo, 6-Xavi, 9-Patrick Kluivert, 11-Marc Overmars (28-Thiago Motta 84), 15-Fabio Rochemback, 17-Philippe Christanval, 18-Gabri, 21-Luis Enrique, 23-Francesco Coco, 24-Carles Puyol.

Referee: Rene Temmink (Netherlands)

 

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Reuters contributed to this report.