FC Barcelona locked their way to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League as winners of Group C after beating Sporting Lisbon 5-2.

With the two teams having already qualified for the knockout stage, unbeaten Barca took their points tally to 13 with one game still to play, four points ahead of the Lisbon team.

The opening of the match was quite cold, though Barcelona had more ball possession; they weren’t able to break Sporting defense until Lionel Messi started running the show to assist Thierry Henry, who opened the score.

Gerard Pique and Bojan Krkic also scored for Barcelona and Messi was in sparkling form, scoring early in the second half before being substituted.

An own-goal in the 67th by Caneira, deflecting a shot from Pedro Rodriguez, extended the visitor’s lead to 4-2, then Krkic sealed it with a penalty in the 72nd after Sporting goalkeeper Rui Patricio was sent off.

Home fans at the Jose Alvalade Stadium mocked their team and applauded Messi’s dribbling. It was really an embarrassing night for Sporting.