Barcelona 5 - Panathinaikos 0

Barcelona: Víctor Valdés; Oleguer, Puyol, Edmilson, Van Bronckhorst; Iniesta (Motta 52'), Xavi (Ezquerro 70'), Van Bommel (Gabri 61'); Messi, Eto'o, Ronaldinho. 4-3-3.
Panathinaikos: Galinovic; Vintra, Morris, Biscan (Kotsios 46'), Darlas (Tziolis 61'); Nilsson, Flavio Conceicao, Ezequiel González, Seric (Wooter 79'); Leontiou, Papadopoulos. 4-4-2.

Goals:
1-0. 01. Van Bommel. Ran on to pass from Iniesta to lob ball over keeper.
2-0. 14. Eto'o. Steered header into top corner of net from Iniesta's cross.
3-0. 34. Messi. Ran on to lift ball over keeper and fire shot into net.
4-0. 40. Eto'o. Shot from left of area after Messi and Ronaldinho combined.
5-0. 65. Eto'o. Curled first time shot over keeper after short pass from Messi.

An impressive 5-0 win by Barcelona against Panathinaikos took Frank Rijkaard's side to the verge of qualifying for the second stage of the competition as top of their group. The Catalans were playing their fourth home game in a row, and with ten goals for and none against in the previous three they were already on a roll. And with less than a minute on the clock they were already ahead, Van Bommel running on to Iniesta's pass to lift the ball over Galinovic and score.

After that it was one way traffic, with Messi and Eto'o both having efforts saved by the keeper before Eto'o lost his marker and steered a long header into the top corner of the net. Galinovic saved a Ronaldinho free kick and Messi had a goal disallowed for offside, and still less than a quarter of the game had gone by.

The Greek side had their first effort at goal on the half hour mark when Papadopoulos sent a speculative shot a long way wide. But soon afterwards Messi made it three after winning a loose ball inside the area and chipping the keeper before running round to score from close range. And five minutes before the interval Eto'o scored a fourth with a shot from left of goal after Messi and Ronaldinho passed the ball across the edge of the area.

The onslaught carried on into the second half, Messi and even Oleguer bringing good saves out of Galinovic. Rijkaard gave a run out to Motta, Gabri and later on to Ezquerro, and twenty minutes in to the half Eto'o completed his hat-trick after running on to Messi's through ball to curl a first time shot over the head of the despairing keeper.

Still the attacks continued, the keeper making two more excellent saves from Ronaldinho and Eto'o. And with the game coming to an end Ezquerro almost made it six when his shot span back off the keeper and was cleared off the line by a defender. It was another feast of football at the Nou Camp, and Barcelona ended the day six points clear of the other three sides in their group, all of whom are level on four points.