Barcelona hit the woodwork twice and saw two goals chalked off as they had to work hard against a resolute FC Copenhagen side before they could emerge 2-0 victors thanks to a Lionel Messi brace. Barca coach Pep Guardiola was forced to reshuffle his pack with Xavi, Pedro and Bojan all starting on the bench and goalkeeper Victor Valdes forced to withdraw from the squad due to illness. Despite an unconventional midfield trio of Sergio Busquets, Javier Mascherano and Maxwell, the Blaugrana showed no signs of unfamiliarity as they rattled the crossbar just four minutes into the game. Lionel Messi cut the Copenhagen defence open with a blistering run before squaring the ball to David Villa, who could only bend his effort against the woodwork. Maxwell then had a chance when his half volley from a tight angle was smothered by goalkeeper Johan Wiland. Copenhagen’s strategy of over-crowding their own penalty area when under pressure and pushing up to play the offside trap during Barca’s slow build-ups worked well initially as they restricted the Catalans from creating clear-cut chances. That was until the 19th minute when Messi picked up a pass from Iniesta and rifled home a thunderbolt from 20 yards out into the top right-hand corner to put his side in front. Villa thought he had got on the scoresheet on 30 minutes when he latched onto a delicious through ball from Messi and dinked a shot over the goalkeeper, but the whistle had already gone for offside. ‘El Guaje’ then forced a brilliant save from Wiland with a rasping volley on the edge of the box. Copenhagen’s first decent look-in at goal didn’t arrive until the 35th minute when Cesar Santin dashed past Pique to the byline and his cut-back was almost stabbed in for an own goal by a back-tracking Busquets, but Jose Pinto was alert to the danger. Barca responded immediately and they found the back of the net again, only to see it disallowed for offside as they tried to walk the ball over the line. Pique was released clean through on goal after a one-two with Busquets but opted to square it to Messi instead in the middle. The Argentine had the easiest of tap-ins but he was deemed to be in an offside position. Dani Alves tested Wiland with a powerful low drive after cutting past his marker in what would be the final action of the first period. The Danish outfit tried to surprise their hosts by taking the game to them early in the second half. Santin in particular came close when just failed to connect with N’Doye’s cushioned header despite lunging forward at full stretch at the backpost. But Stale Solbakken’s side quickly retreated into their shell and their dogged defending again prevented Barcelona from creating any goal-bound opportunities. And it was in fact Copenhagen who almost scored on 67 minutes. N’Doye’s cracking shot from 20 yards cannoned off the crossbar with Pinto well beaten and the ball fell kindly for Santin to head into the open goal, but he shockingly looped his effort wide. Wiland was forced into his first save of the second half in the 71st minute when he put his body on the line to smother Villa’s volley. Straight to the other end, Copenhagen almost stung the Catalans again when Pospech drilled in a low cross from the right which forced Alves to make a last ditch tackle to rob the ball off Bolanos just as he was about to pull the trigger right in front of goal. With five minutes to go, Copenhagen threatened again when Kvist launched a speculative chip from the halfway line after catching Pinto off his line, but the Barca goalkeeper doubled-back just in time to palm it out. Barcelona then hit the woodwork when Dani Alves skinned his marker and arrowed in a shot across goal which pinged off the foot of the far post. But the victory was finally sealed one minute into injury time when Messi bundled the ball over the line when Abidal’s miscued shot bobbled nicely towards the Argentine’s path. The win puts Barca on seven points from three games but Copenhagen remain well in contention for a place in the knockout round as they sit in second with six points Source: Goal.com