Barcelona demolish Basel, Inter go top and Bordeaux win

GROUP C : Teenage striker Bojan Krkic scored twice as Barcelona demolished FC Basel 5-0 in Switzerland to put themselves on …

GROUP C: Teenage striker Bojan Krkic scored twice as Barcelona demolished FC Basel 5-0 in Switzerland to put themselves on the brink of early qualification for the last 16.

Twice European champions Barcelona made it three wins out of three in Group C after dominating the first half with three well-worked goals from Lionel Messi, Sergi Busquets and Bojan.

The 18-year-old continued the rout less than a minute after the restart, finishing off a neat counter to a rare Basel attack, with Xavi Hernandez getting on the scoresheet a minute later following another Messi lay-off.

Barcelona introduced striker Thierry Henry shortly afterwards in an apparent bid for further goals but eventually eased off as the match reached its inevitable conclusion with Basel still rooted to the bottom of the table with no points.

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Basel had made much of their historical links with Barcelona in the build-up to the match with legend suggesting the Spanish giants may have lifted their distinctive red and blue colours from their older Swiss rivals.

Christian Gross's side proved a pale imitation of their Catalan guests once the game got underway, however, with Basel's Argentine goalkeeper Franco Costanzo doing well to prevent an even more catastrophic scoreline.

In the group's other game Sporting Lisbon beat Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 in Ukraine with a slick late goal from Brazilian striker Liedson. The Portuguese side's hard-won victory, thanks to Liedson's low shot in the 76th minute, puts them in second place in the group, three points behind Barcelona.

GROUP B: Brazilian Adriano headed in just before half-time to give a pedestrian Inter Milan a 1-0 home win over Anorthosis Famagusta and send the Italians clear at the top of the group.

Maicon's right wing cross arrived slightly behind him and Adriano did well to arch his back and head in from close range.

A late goal from Portuguese striker Hugo Almeida secured Werder Bremen a 2-2 draw in Athens against Panathinaikos at the Olympic Stadium.

Almeida struck seven minutes from time to earn a point after the German side had fallen behind after taking the lead.

Bremen went ahead in the 29th minute against the run of play when defender Per Mertesacker got behind the defence to slip the ball past goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas.

Vangelis Mantzios levelled seven minutes later when he sent a looping header over Werder goalkeeper Christian Vander.

Mantzios then added a second in the 68th minute but Almeida's strike left the Greek team still looking for their first win.

GROUP A: Girondins Bordeaux ended the run of surprise package CFR Cluj with a 1-0 win over the Romanian side in Bordeaux. Cluj, who had started with a shock 2-1 win at AS Roma before holding Chelsea to a 0-0 draw in Romania, put up a brave fight until their captain, Cadu, deflected a Yoann Gourcuff cross into his own net on 54 minutes.

Bordeaux, who were hammered 4-0 by Chelsea before losing 3-1 to AS Roma, badly needed Cadu's help to put their campaign on track.

GROUP D: Danny Koevermans struck twice after the break to earn PSV Eindhoven a 2-0 home victory over Olympique Marseille.

The win gave PSV their first points of the campaign after Stijn Wuytens had gone close in the first half.

After the break PSV completely overwhelmed their opponents and should have settled the match within five minutes with Ibrahim Afellay and Wuytens both missing from close range.

With 19 minutes remaining Koevermans broke the deadlock when he headed home a corner kick and five minutes before time Edison Mendes set up the striker for his second goal.

PSV move to three points while Marseille are yet to register a point.