Barcelona made it to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League but they were not as impressive in the second half of their win over Werder Bremen as they had been in the opening 45 minutes.
They were superb in that first period at the Nou Camp and played like real champions as their movement and quick passing tore the Bundesliga leaders apart. They should have been out of sight at the break but a combination of some poor finishing and good goalkeeping from Tim Wiese kept the score down.
There was an edge to the atmosphere before the match as the home fans feared their defence of the trophy would not even make the turn of the year. Barca had gone through a slump in Group A when they lost at Chelsea and then drew with Bremen and the London side. They went into the match on Wednesday night knowing they needed a win to go through, while their opponents only required a draw. Since the inception of the Champions League in 1992, no side defending the trophy had failed to make it out of the group; that was a record Barcelona did not want.
I thought Bremen had a real chance of getting the draw they needed. They were impressive in their home win over Chelsea and with players like Frings, Diego, Mertesacker and Klose, I thought they would have the quality to worry Barca.
The large home support was a big plus for the holders but Bremen would have been hoping to keep Barca out for as long as possible. It is an old theory, but the longer the visiting team can keep their opponents from scoring, the more likely it is that the home support will turn against their team. That is the theory, but Barcelona did not follow the script and scored two goals in the first 18 minutes. The goals settled the nerves and got the crowd on side. Bremen were left with a mountain to climb and were fortunate not to have been three or four down at half-time.
Ronaldinho scored a very cheeky free-kick on 13 minutes. He slid the ball under the wall from the edge of the area and Wiese in the Bremen goal had no chance. Ronaldinho may have noticed the Werder wall jumping on free-kicks in some of their other matches or perhaps he just took a chance; it was a brilliant moment and was typical of the player.
Barcelona had blown Bremen away in the opening 45 minutes and had a two-goal cushion. The Germans were in real trouble and if they were to have any chance of getting back into the match, they would have to take risks and have a real go from the start of the second half.
In fairness to them, they did that and they tore into Barca after the re-start. Diego, Jensen and Frings came more into the match and they got their full-backs, Wome and Fritz, to push forward. The champions struggled to cope with the pressure on them which was very surprising given the way they had played. They looked vulnerable at the back but Bremen did not have the quality to put the ball in the net.
Barcelona did create some chances in the second half but Bremen managed to keep them under pressure. You were left with the feeling that a Chelsea or a Lyon would have been able to turn that pressure into goals and that will be a concern for Barca.
The main thing for the champions is that they are through and now have over two months to prepare for the first knockout round. They do need to work on their defence but that defence won them the competition last season so maybe I am being over-critical.
They could also have Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o back by mid-February and they will both greatly improve the team.
They go into the draw on Friday week as one of the eight teams who have finished second and will play one of the group winners. No side in Europe will fancy meeting them and they will be very hard to beat. If Frank Rijkaard's men can maintain the form they showed in the first half against Bremen for an entire match, they could go very close to retaining the trophy. Milan were the last side to retain the old European Cup and that was back in 1990.
