BARCELONA let two points slip through their fingers with a shock stalemate away in Greece.
With a raft of injuries and suspensions the La Liga giants were depleted but the likes of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez should have still got the Group D leaders maximum points.
Barca were without Spain’s Catalonian defender Gerard Pique who was sent off in the first leg for two needless yellows.
Injuries robbed the La Liga side of Ousmane Dembele, Andres Iniesta, Aleix Vidal and Arda Turan making their squad light for the trip.
And, with the scores still goalless in first-half injury time, they picked up another injury when Sergi Roberto was crocked and former Everton man Gerard Deulofeu had to replace him. Before the break the best chances went to the travelling Barca side with efforts from Nelson Semedo and Messi getting saved by Silvio Proto. Goalkeeper Ter Stegen was Barcelona’s man of the match at the weekend against Athletic Bilbao and it was a similar story on Wednesday when none of Barca’s stars shone bright. Even mastermind Messi and Suarez fell flat and fluffed a brilliant second-half chance when they linked for a wall-pass but the Argentine sliced a tap-in wide. And inside the last 20 minutes the usually brilliant pair missed another selection of chances with Suarez matching Messi for wastefulness in front of goal. Thankfully for Barca, Juventus the main challengers to their top spot suffered a shock draw away at Sporting Lisbon.
That leaves the Italian club second in Group D on seven points while Barca still lead the way with 10.
From The Sun
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