UEFA Champions League: Barcelona 1-0 APOEL Nicosia - 5 talking points

A 28th minute header from Barcelona centre-back Gerard Pique was enough to claim all the 3 points, as the hosts beat Cyprus outfit APOEL Nicosia 1-0.It was a revamped Barcelona side, with several new players making it to the starting XI who still had to work very hard to churn out a win, as the visitors put up some resilient defense and managed to stave off Barcelona’s onslaught.Across the slideshow, we examine the 5 talking points of the game.

#1 A victory not worth celebrating for an underwhelming Barcelona

The vigour which was seen in Barcelona’s opening game of the season against Elche in the league, seems to have waned upto some extent as they struggled to get past an obdurate APOEL side.

In the first half, Barcelona had only 4 shots on target and all of them were brilliantly saved by APOEL goalkeeper Urko Pardo. Midway through the first half, the home side won a free-kick which Messi delightfully curled in from the right, bending it goalwards, and Piqué headed in from the edge of the six-yard box. And the Spanish giants should have gone two up in the 40th minute when Messi uncharacteristically hit straight at Pardo following Neymar's pull back.

They started the second half in exactly the same way as the first- with a torrent of attacks. However, the best chance of the half fell to the 19-year old Sandro, who narrowly shot the ball wide from outside the box.

With a staggering 72% of ball possession and 91% passing accuracy, the scoreline should have been much more than just 1-0.