It was a tense affair as FC Barcelona, who had nothing to play for, were able to hold on to a draw against Bayer Leverkusen who will now play in the Europa League after their final group game ended 1-1.

Messi and Hernandez net early on

It was a relatively quiet opening twenty minutes for Barcelona as they were content with keeping possession in this game. Playing without the likes of Andres Iniesta, Neymar, Luis Suarez, Pique, and Sergio Busquets, it was a different lineup for the Catalans, who had already secured their place as group winners.

It was a lineup a common fan is not used to seeing, as Luis Enrique opted to go with a lineup filled with a lot of reserve and Barcelona B players and put Leo Messi up top. However, there was no surprise when Messi netted the opening goal. 

Slipping behind the Leverkusen defence just past the 20 minutes mark, Messi was all alone heading towards goal. He rounded Bernd Leno with a slick move and slid the ball into the net to give Barcelona the lead. 

However, the lead only lasted for three minutes as Leverkusen struck right back when Javier "Chicarito" Hernandez hit a left footed strike that left goalie Marc-Andre Ter Stegen helpless as he gave Bayer a Champions League lifeline as they tied up the score at 1-1. 

That was score at halftime as Bayer needed another goal to go ahead and try to advance to the knockout stages. 

Vermaelen, given a rare start, challenges for the ball (photo: getty)

Bayer Leverkusen make Barcelona sweat 

It was a tense half for the Catalan defence as a desperate Bayer Leverkusen attack began to turn up the heat in the second half. 

First it was Hakan Çalhanoğlu who found an opening on the left side of the Barcelona defensive line, but his shot went just wide. Then Chicarito had his chance. It was a peppering of the Barcelona goal as the Barcelona attack, without Suarez and Neymar, failed to get going. 

One of Bayer's best chances came off a horrible attempt of a clearance by Jordi Alba and the ball fell kindly to Karim Bellarabi who was in on goal but was denied by Ter-Stegen. It was the German who kept Barcelona in the game and kept this game at 1-1. 

Barcelona had one good chance in the second half as Sandro broke behind the Leverkusen defence but he could not do anything with the ball. It was a horrible second offense for Barcelona as Leverkusen controlled the majority of the chances and caused havoc for Barcelona with their constant pressure. 

As the clocked ticked towards 90 minutes, Leverkusen started pushing more men forward and should have scored. It was a cross towards Bellarabi on the near post and he headed towards a sharp angle and it looked like it should be the game winning goal. But it was the right hand of Ter-Stegen that punched it away and denied an A+ chance. 

But as the final whistle blew, Leverkusen hearts were crushed as they needed a win to advance to the knockout stages of the tournament and now they will have to settle for the Europa League. 

Barcelona finish as first in the group as the result had no affect on their placement in the group. 

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About the author
Vijay Vemu
Vijay is a sports journalist who covers mainly the NBA and soccer. He is a credential reporter on the Chicago Fire and also covers NBA for VAVEL as well. He is also a editor for Mash Chicago, the publication of the Chicago Tribune. He is also a contributor at SB Nation's Blog A Bull and Big East Coast Bias as well as writing on European Soccer as well. He plans on attending the University of Illnois at Chicago (UIC) in the fall with a major in computer science. You can follow him on Twitter : @VJVemu