Barcelona showed they have plenty of exciting talent coming through the ranks when a team of youngsters lit up Camp Nou by thrashing Bate Borisov in Group H.
The holders had comfortably reached the last 16 as group winners last month and the coach, Pep Guardiola, blooded a slew of recent academy graduates in a starting lineup in which the 10 outfield players had an average age of just over 21 years old.
The 19-year-old midfielder Sergi Roberto opened the scoring against the Belarussian champions, who finished bottom of the group, in the 35th minute, striking a loose ball low past the goalkeeper Aleksandar Gutor from just outside the penalty area.
The right-back Martin Montoya powered a shot high into the net for a in the 60th minute before Pedro scored the third three minutes later with an audacious flick and then converted a penalty two minutes from time after Cuenca was brought down.
Guardiola had the luxury of being able to rest most of his first-choice players with Saturday's Cl�sico against Real Madrid looming. Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andr�s Iniesta, Cesc F�bregas and the keeper Victor Valdes were all left out of the squad and the Spain forward Pedro was the only player in the starting 11 who could be considered a regular.
"This shows that our youth teams are very strong," said Pedro, a product of Barcelona's La Masia academy himself. "These young players want to get a spot in the first team and they run a lot to try and earn it."
The Bar�a side included brothers Thiago Alc�ntara, 20, and the 18-year-old Rafinha, whose Brazilian father Mazinho was a professional player in Italy and Spain.
Barcelona finished unbeaten on 16 points, seven ahead of Milan, who were already assured of second place and drew 2-2 at third-placed Viktoria Plzen with the Czech side dropping into the Europa League.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/dec/06/barcelona-bate-borisov-champions-league
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