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Barcelona make certain they're top.
After falling behind in the seventh minute, Barcelona were relentless in attack as they took their goals for tally in the Champions League this season to 34. Xavi, outstanding in his role as understudy to Pep Guardiola, got his side back level on 10 minutes with a deflected shot, while a brilliant solo run and shot from Gabri put the Catalans ahead at the start of the second half. Patrick Kluivert then put a gloss on the scoreline as he atoned for a series of earlier misses with a neat turn and shot with eight minutes to go. On a highly satisfactory night for Barcelona, Luis Figo and defender Abelardo Fernandez both successfully provoked referee Michel Piraux into producing yellow cards that will see them banned for the last group game but available for the quarter-finals. Only a brilliant display from fit-again Hertha keeper Gabor Kiraly prevented a deluge in the first half as the Barcelona attack rained down on their opponents. Kiraly first excelled himself by nipping the ball off the feet of Figo midway through the opening period, then somehow preventing the onrushing Rivaldo from scoring his ninth Champions League goal of the season as the Brazilian was put clear on goal. Barcelona, who had already been assured of a place in the last eight with a couple of games to spare, had in fact made a tentative start but were stung into action by Alves's opening goal. Winston Bogarde, under pressure from the Hertha forwards, made a sloppy clearance straight to Ante Covic, who hoisted over a deep cross for Alves to head past Ruud Hesp. The Barcelona response was swift. Figo, jinking in from the right, won a corner on 11 minutes that Hertha could only half clear. Xavi, taking the ball on the edge of the area, advanced a metre before cracking in a shot that deflected off Dick Van Burik and past Kiraly. The Hertha keeper's one-man show kept Hertha in touch until the start of the second half when Gabri's brilliant piece of work provided Barcelona's second. The young midfielder, winning the ball on his own halfway line, hared through the middle and showed extraordinary composure to sweep a shot past the Hertha keeper. Kluivert then did his best to keep the Germans in the game with a string of misses, the worst on 65 minutes when a pass from the immaculate Ronald de Boer gave him a clear sight on goal. But the Dutch forward eventually struck, reacting first to a Jari Litmanen shot that was only half stopped in the area, to complete the scoring.
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