Barca ease to victory in Bucharest

Barcelona continued their pre-season work with a 2-0 win over Dinamo Bucharest thanks to goals from Lionel Messi and Ibrahim Afellay.

The Catalans were ahead inside five minutes as Messi, who has already scored five in the warm-up games this summer, eluded Dinamo defender Dragos Grigore and fired the ball home from just inside the area.

Barca continued their dominance in front of a 45,000 crowd in the Rumanian capital, restricting Dinamo to few chances with Marius Alexe coming closest to troubling Victor Valdes.

Messi and Alexis Sanchez both missed good opportunities to double the advantage before Tito Vilanova made wholesale changes after the break, but it was Marius Tucudean who almost equalised after seeing his header tipped over by Valdes.

Substitute Andres Iniesta made an instant impression after being brought on when chipped the ball onto the roof of Kristijan Naumovski's net, but it was down to Afellay to seal the game for the Spanish giants as he lobbed a late goal to make it 2-0.

Barcelona were boosted by the surprise sight of David Villa being introduced into the action after it was initially announced he would take no part in the game, the 30-year-old returning to action after having broken a leg in against Al Sadd in December.

Dinamo Bucharest 0-2 Barcelona

Scorers: Messi 4 (B), Afellay 90 (B)

Dinamo Bucharest: Balgradean; Nica, Pulhac, Matei, Munteanu; Alexe, Boubacar, Curtean, Grigore, Tucudean; Koulibaly

Substitutes used: Axente, Luchin, Musat, Rus, Ba, Danciulescu, Scutaru, Galchev

Barcelona: Valdes; Alves, Pique, Bartra, Alba; Fabregas, Xavi, Busquets, Alexis; Messi, Pedro

Substitutes used: Mascherano, Montoya, Iniesta, Afellay, Sergi Roberto, Adriano, Illie, Tello, Fontas, Villa, Rafinha

Referee: Balaj (Rum)

Tags Afellay Dinamo Bucharest Messi
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