Barcelona resist pressure in Istanbul

A Barcelona team without several key players managed to resist the pressure from the home team and the home crowd in Istanbul Saturday evening, as the Spanish top team won 29:25 against Besiktas MOGAZ HT on the last match day of the group phase.

GROUP B

Besiktas MOGAZ HT (TUR) vs FC Barcelona (ESP) 25:29 (12:14)

Barcelona celebrated their first place in Group B with a win in Istanbul, while the Turkish Champions League debutants finished their first group phase campaign ever with a defeat.

Besiktas managed to put their famous opponents under pressure, but not more than that.

Neither team really had anything at stake, as Barcelona were sure to win the group, while all Besiktas could hope for, was to escape the last place.

Names like Nikola Karabatic, Cedric Sorhaindo, Victor Tomas and Raul Entrerrois were missing on Barcelona's team sheet, and this contributed to making a the game fairly equal all the way.

Barcelona soon took a three-goal lead, and at half-time two goals were separating the two teams in favour of the visitors.

Early in the second half, Besiktas managed to reduce the deficit to only one goal, but that was as close as the hosts got, and at the end, the favourites made the distance larger and took a goal win at the end.

Barcelona finish top of the group with 17 points, while Besiktas finish sixth and last with two points.