brilliant barça sweep wisła aside published: thursday 14 august 2008, 0.45cet fc barcelona 4-0 wisła kraków samuel eto'o scored twice as barcelona overwhelmed wisła kraków to all but assure their progress.
by delfín ramírez
samuel eto'o scored twice as fc barcelona overwhelmed wisła kraków to all but assure their passage to the uefa champions league group stage.
eto'o double the cameroon striker and xavi hernández give the catalan side a two-goal advantage at half-time, a lead extended within four minutes of the restart by thierry henry. eto'o claimed his second of the night seven minutes from time to give coach josep guardiola a fine start to his camp nou tenure.
lively start moving the ball with purpose, the hosts probed for openings in the wisła defence from the off and it was not long before they threatened, henry's 13th-minute header drawing a save from mariusz pawełek. four minutes later and barça were ahead when eto'o latched on to a pass from rafael márquez and kept his composure to beat pawełek in a one-on-one. henry then sent a right-footed effort just wide but the second goal was not long in coming as xavi's long-range effort took a deflection en route to the back of pawełek's net. víctor valdés had been a virtual spectator and the one-way traffic towards the wisła goal continued with xavi wasting another chance with only pawełek to beat as barça ended the half as they had started it.
henry strike four minutes after the break henry finished off a move involving andrés iniesta and eto'o, and with a comfortable lead, barcelona eased off for a while. midway through the second period, xavi and then moments later summer signing seydou keita, were denied by defensive blocks as wisła sought to limit the damage. however, despite their efforts, the polish champions could not deny guardiola's side a fourth on 82 minutes as eto'o received an iniesta pass and fired beyond pawełek from inside the penalty area.
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