Five-goal Barcelona make short work of Basel

Teen sensation Bojan Krkic scored twice as Barcelona cruised past Basel 5-0 Wednesday to keep their 100-percent record in the Champions League Group C.

Coach Josep Guardiola left Andres Iniesta, Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry out of the starting lineup, but the French striker came on for Xavi Hernandez in the middle of the second half.

That left 18-year-old Krkic to lead the attack.

It was Argentine winger Lionel Messi who opened the scoring in the fourth minute, beating the Basel offside trap and picking up a superb cross from Daniel Alves to knock the ball past his compatriot Franco Costanzo in the Swiss goal.

Barely 10 minutes later, Xavi Hernandez lobbed a ball across the Basel defence to Sergi Busquets at the far post and the Spanish under-21 international slotted it home.

Messi played a ball to the feet of Krkic, who sent it to the corner of the net of the net from the edge of the penalty area in the 22nd minute.

Krkic, whose Serbian father, also named Bojan Krkic, played for Red Star Belgrade, doubled his tally at the start of the second half when Barcelona launch a counter-attack after a rare Basel foray into Spanish territory.

Xavi Hernandez made it five for the Catalan side just two minutes later.

Barcelona now have a perfect nine points from three games in Group C, which also includes Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk and Sporting Lisbon.