Xavi Hernandez was able to get his Barcelona team back on track in the Champions League with a 2-1 victory over Porto that saw the Catalan giants progress through to the knockout round.
A shock defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk was never realistically going to prevent Los Cules from progressing, but it highlighted a number of shortcomings in Barcelona’s team.
Fans have been worried that the team had started to slide backwards after a lot of progress under the Spanish coach’s tenure.
It was by no means a classic display from Barcelona, and they even went a goal down when Porto were able to take the lead after 30 minutes.
Ironically, the opening goal could have been Porto’s second of the evening as Mehdi Taremi put the ball in the net, however he was adjudged to have been offside.
Galeno then unleashed a powerful long range shot from the edge of the penalty area, which Inaki Pena could only parry back into danger.
Pepe was able to score with a rebound from close range, as he placed the ball into the back of the net with a simple tap-in.
However, Porto’s joy was short-lived as Joao Cancelo equalized for the hosts as the former Manchester City defender fired a perfect shot into the bottom right corner of the net.
The second-half began with the Blaugrana in control, and Joao Felix almost scored with a volley that rattled the top of the crossbar before bouncing out for a goal-kick.
Felix, though, was then able to find the back of the net after some sharp movement inside the penalty area saw him wriggle free and get on the end of a pass from Cancelo.
He was able to tap the ball home from close range, continuing the fine start to his Barcelona career since joining on loan from Atletico Madrid.
Barcelona sit on 12 points with one game remaining, whilst Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk sit on nine points but have to play each other in Matchday Six.
There is no way that Barcelona can fail to progress, and Xavi can now prepare for the knockout phase of the tournament after falling short in the group stage last year.
