Barcelona reach knockout phase despite close brush with Basel

Barcelona became the first team to qualify for the knockout stage of this season's Champions League despite losing their 100 percent record in the competition following a 1-1 home draw with FC Basel on Tuesday.

Shakhtar Donetsk's 1-0 defeat against Sporting Lisbon in the other group match means Spanish league leaders Barcelona qualify from Group C with their tally of ten points with two games left to play.

Argentine international Lionel Messi scored his fourth Champions League goal in as many games to put Barcelona ahead on 62 minutes – just 120 seconds after coming on as a substitute – but Eren Derdiyok equalised for the Swiss visitors eight minutes from time.

It spoilt Barca's flawless Champions League start and ended their run of 11 successive victories in all competitions but qualification is secure.

“The result is fine by me because we have qualified for the last 16 and that was our target,” said Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.

“We beat them 5-0 on their own ground but this was a different game starting from scratch. No-one gifts you anything in this competition.

“We rested some players to keep them fresh for other matches and I thought the ones that played did very well.”

The only black spot for Barcelona was a leg injury to Spanish international midfielder Andres Iniesta that could sideline him for as long as six weeks.

“Injuries are never nice and the injury to Andres is a bad piece of news for us,” confessed Guardiola.

Barcelona's next European game is against Sporting Lisbon – who are almost through themselves after beating the Ukrainian outfit 1-0 – on November 26 when they will tussle for top spot but they can now focus on the league knowing they are already in the last 16.

With a perfect nine points before the game and big matches to come Guardiola gave fringe players a chance with Sylvinho, Sergio Busquets and Victor Sanchez starting while Samuel Eto'o, Messi and Xavi started on the substitutes bench.

Basel were wary of another heavy defeat after their 5-0 thrashing at home by Guardiola's troops – the heaviest home defeat in their European history – and there was an avalanche of early attacks from the home side with Thierry Henry going close in the first five minutes.

Unlike in Switzerland – when they were 3-0 down after 22 minutes – Basel kept free-scoring Barca at bay and it was deadlocked 0-0 at half-time.

Guardiola resisted the temptation to change things at the interval and Bojan Krkic went close to scoring minutes after the restart.

But on the hour Messi and Xavi stripped off their tracksuits to replace Sanchez and Krkic.

Messi needed just two minutes to make his mark evading his marker and curling a precise left-footed shot into the corner.

Defender Gerard Pique hit the post for Barca and Basel produced a shock equaliser with Derdiyok volleying home in the 82nd minute.

FC Basel, managed by former Tottenham Hotspur coach Christian Gross, had lost their first three matches so this was their first Champions League point.