Barcelona couldn’t break down a resolute Galatasaray on the first leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie on Thursday night.
The Blaugrana will have hoped to make home advantage count ahead of a tricky looking trip to Turkey next week, but they failed to do so.
Xavi Hernandez took the opportunity to rest a number of key players, though the Gerard Pique – who had been nursing a small injury – and Ousmane Dembélé were brought on as early as half time.
Without Sergio Busquets, who started from the bench, Barca struggled to break down a solid Galatasary, who had chances of their own.
Galatasaray keeper Inaki Pena, who is on loan from Barca, produced two brilliant saves to deny Memphis Depay in the first half.
But other than that, Barca failed to create enough, particularly in the second half, and they now have the difficult task of going to Turkey needing to win.
Galatasaray will be delighted to take a point home, and to their credit, they deserved to on the back of a solid defensive display along with a couple of notable breaks.
In truth, it wasn’t most entertaining game, and we will surely see a little more final product for both teams when they meet for the second leg and the decider next Thursday.
