Three Champions League debuts

Roger Bogunyà

Now fewer than three Barça B players made their Champions League debuts against Rubin Kazann namely Bartra, Fontàs and Thiago. Here are some other curiosities surrounding the 2-0 win.

► Of the three debutants, just Thiago and Fontàs started. Bartra came on for Bojan in the second half.

► Jonathan dos Santos already played a few minutes in the Champions League at the end of the 2-0 match with Inter last year. But this was the Mexican’s first European start.

► Víctor Vázquez, scorer of the second goal last night, also had prior experience in the Champions. That came against Shakhtar Donetsk (2-3), in the 2008/09 season.

► Last night’s other scorer, Andreu Fontàs, got his first goal for the first team. He had played five games to date.

► In total, as many as ten reserves turned out against Rubin Kazan.

► Pinto, coming off a two-match suspension, played his second Champions League match on Tuesday. He has yet to concede a goal and this season, in his four appearances, Barcelona have won.

► Busquets played the whole game at centre back and was the player who recovered the most balls (15).

► Gerard Piqué is the only Barça player who has started every match in the Champions League group stage.

► The team has now gone two games without getting any cards, and against Rubin Kazan, Barça only committed three fouls.

► It is now five games since Barcelona conceded a goal. The last was Nilmar’s for Villarreal (3-1).