Barça ease past Poles

Legia Warszawa 0-1 FC Barcelona (Barcelona win 4-0 on aggregate)
FC Barcelona cruised into the UEFA Champions League first group stage after Gaizka Mendieta scored the only goal in Warsaw to complete a comfortable 4-0 aggregate defeat of Polish champions Legia Warszawa.

'We dominated totally'
Mendieta struck from the penalty spot on the hour, following a Jacek Zielinski foul on Patrick Kluivert, as Barcelona, European champions a decade ago, gained the victory coach Louis van Gaal felt their domination deserved. "We dominated the game totally and that's what we wanted to do," Van Gaal said. "Legia had two chances but missed them, we had four and we scored one of them which is good for us and a good sign before the start of the season."

Close calls
The Catalans, who kick off their domestic league season against Club Atlético de Madrid this weekend, spurned a number of openings in the first half, notably when both Mendieta and Luis Enrique burst through from midfield only to hit shots over the crossbar.

Kielbowicz shoots wide
Before that Legia had missed the first chance of the night when Adam Majewski shot weakly at goalkeeper Víctor Valdés under pressure from a Barça defender. They went even closer a minute before the break when a Majewski pass found Tomasz Kielbowicz well placed on the left of the area, but he poked a shot just wide of the far post.

Okuka praise
Legia coach Dragomir Okuka said he felt a draw "would have been the fair result". However, he could not fault his players for effort. "We had our chances, it's a pity we lost 1-0 but this is the difference in class between the teams," he said. "Legia played to their best, the way we played it would have been enough against most teams but not Barcelona."

Play interrupted
Yet Legia failed to seriously threaten the visitors after the interval, and Barcelona, despite playing within themselves, claimed the 1-0 win through Mendieta's spot-kick - his first goal for the Blaugrana since his summer transfer from S.S. Lazio. That penalty was the cue for a six-minute suspension of play as fireworks thrown by home supporters caused a cloud of smoke to drift across the pitch, reducing visibility.

Magiera sees red
And when play was resumed there was one final flashpoint as Jacek Magiera was sent off for pulling the shirt of Barça substitute Geovanni. Okuka was unhappy with Magiera, who had already collected one yellow card and now faces a suspension from the UEFA Cup. "Margera's red card was unnecessary," the coach said.