Barcelona hold off Schalke to take slim lead to Spain
Thierry Henry set up Krkic to give Barcelona a small advantage
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Tuesday, 01, Apr 2008 09:58
A 12th minute goal from Bojan Krkic gave a lacklustre Barcelona a slender 1-0 lead in the first leg of the Champions League quarter final against Schalke 04.
The young Spaniard, filling in for Ronaldinho, tapped in at point blank range from Thierry Henry's cross after Manuel Neuer saved the Frenchman's shot.
Kevin Kuranyi's header from a corner was the closest Schalke 04 came to an equaliser in the first half, but the German's header was straight at Victor Valdes
The early goal silenced the home crowd and the Spaniards nearly added a second when a Samuel Eto'o cross was deflected just wide with Krkic lurking.
Schalke came out with more intent in the second half and Valdes spilled Christian Pander's low shot after 50 minutes but no one was following in on the Barcelona goalkeeper who gathered it at the second attempt.
The home side continued their assault on the 2006 winners when Halil Altintop saw a dink over Valdes miss the target followed by a diving header that slipped agonisingly wide of the far post.
Soren Larsen headed over after good work from Heiko Westermann unlocked the left side of the Barcelona defence and it was Westermann who could have claimed a penalty four minutes later.
Pander's ball from the left picked out Westermann at the far post but he was tugged back by Eric Abidal although the referee, Kyros Vassaras, waved away what looked like a certain spot-kick.
Valdes tipped over a strong header from Marcelo Bordon as the Germans proved more than a match for the Catalan side.
But Barcelona held out for the win and remain favourites for the second leg in Camp Nou.