Spectacular Barcelona crushed Shakhtar 5-1 and almost secured their pass to the semis

FC Barcelona travel to Ukraine with one objective in mind: defeat Shakhtar and score as many goals as possible. Both objectives were accomplished. The 1-5 win of Guardiola's team is more than enough to think that Barcelona and Real Madrid will battle for a place in the Champions League final.

The first goal, scored by Andres Iniesta, came very early and change the plans of the local team. Their defensive line could not resist the counterattacks the the other four goals could have been a lot more.

Dani Alves, Pique, Keita and Xavi scored the last four goals, and the leg was over for Shakhtar, that save their honor only with a goal netted by Rakitskiy.

Xavi: "I would suffer playing at Real Madrid"

"If I were playing at Real Madrid, I would enjoy the game in the same way I do at Barcelona" Xavi Hernandez said in his last interview. "Mourinho's team aligns their game in a vertical line through the center of the field. And I need wings that open the game over the sides, making diagonal moves. I need constant movement".

Xavi was interviewed by FIFA and he said that Barcelona's style is the best one for him as a footballer. The talented midfielder is one of the strongest candidates to win the Golden Ball Award, but his favorites are Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi.

Puyol: I don't like to hear doubts about Xavi's work

Barcelona captain Carles Puyol said today that he is not pleased with some speculations about Xavi Hernandez pretending to have an injury in order to avoid their game against Mallorca.

"It makes no sense. Xavi is always eager to play, to be there for the team. His stats prove it, and if he is not playing this game, is because he really has an injury" Puyol assured

The Spanish defender said that he does not read the news very often but those rumours about Xavi still reached him, and that is a bad signal.

Puyol is happy that Xavi as well as David Villa are recovering from their physical problems and are very likely to play agains the powerful Valencia. "They are both key players" he finished.