PRAGUE, Czech Republic, 22 January (H.S.): FC Barcelona staged a gritty second-half resurgence to defeat Slavia Prague 4-2 in UEFA Champions League league-phase action late Wednesday, January 21, amid minus-eight Celsius chill at Fortuna Arena, vaulting to ninth place on 13 points with one match remaining to chase top-eight automatic knockout qualification.
Fermín López tallied twice in the first half—equalising in the 34th minute with a deflected near-post rocket after Vasil Kusej's scrappy 10th-minute opener from Tomáš Holes' corner flick-on, then surging ahead in the 42nd with a pinpoint edge-of-box curler into the bottom-right corner—before Robert Lewandowski's inadvertent back-post deflection off another Holes header levelled at 2-2 just before halftime.
Post-interval dominance yielded Dani Olmo's exquisite 64th-minute 18-yard top-corner strike post-Pedri's muscular injury substitution, followed by Lewandowski's 70th-minute redemption volley from Marcus Rashford's incisive left-wing byline pullback—initially mishit but reflex-finished past Jindřich Staněk—despite missed chances from Raphinha, Pedri, and López.
Slavia languish third-from-bottom on three points; López post-match noted numb limbs from cold but praised resilience for goal-difference edge, sans clean sheet, affirming Barça's top-eight pursuit.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
