Margin slim for glum Terim

Galatasaray SK coach Fatih Terim believes his side went close to ending FC Barcelona's perfect record in UEFA Champions League Group H, as the Turkish side lost 3-1 to go out at the expense of FC Lokomotiv Moskva, who finished second.

'A very complete team'
Cihan Haspolatli cancelled out the home club's early lead on 20 minutes, but goals either side of half-time ended Galatasaray's campaign. The disappointed coach said after the match: "We tried to score overly difficult goals and then proceeded to give away crazy ones ourselves. Barcelona are a very complete team and if we had scored our two best opportunities instead of giving away goals it might have changed our psychology."

Injury changes
Terim added: "Throughout this competition we have had to make changes to the team because of injuries and other causes but, tonight, I would have liked Barcelona to have played their full B-side just like they did in Belgium two weeks ago. Then we would have won!" The fact remains that Barcelona coach Louis van Gaal showed all the commitment to victory he had promised in advance of the game and, despite giving Robert Enke, Michael Reiziger, Gerard López and Dani García rare starts, it was clear that the home side were determined to take all three points.

Stand-ins sparkle
Indeed, it was Dani and Gerard who scored first-half goals before Geovanni added a long-range third on 56 minutes - and both Reiziger and Enke had impressive games. Van Gaal said of his stand-ins: "We made the most of our opportunities and I am happy because the substitute players proved that they are at the right level. This is a long season and we will need them." Gerard in particular dictated the tempo of the match after Galatasaray's early promise had begun to fizzle out.

Dani delight

It's been such a long time for me that people have forgotten that I play here

'We had some luck'
The visitors did have their chances, though. Van Gaal said: "Perhaps we had some luck tonight," referring to the fact that Elvir Baljic missed a golden opportunity gifted to him by Frank de Boer not long before Barcelona went 2-1 up - and that Galatasaray substitute Christian forced Enke into a fantastic right handed save late on, before hitting the post with a header from the resultant corner.

Navarro targets Gunners
The final word was left for Barcelona left-back Fernando Navarro, who looked ahead to Friday morning's second group stage draw. He said: "I'd love to draw Arsenal [FC] in the next round. I played there a few seasons ago in a testimonial for David Seaman and I love the atmosphere and the stadium in London."