Soccer-Barcelona cruise past Viktoria Plzen 4-2 in Champions League

PLZEN, Czech Republic : Ferran Torres scored in each half as Barcelona eased past Victoria Plzen 4-2 in the Champions League on Tuesday but both sides were already eliminated from the competition.

Barcelona remained in third place in Group C behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan and will drop into the Europa League. Viktoria Plzen ended their European campaign without a point.

Barcelona, who rested a number of regulars including Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, struck six minutes into the match when defender Marcos Alonso poked the ball over the line after it squirmed past the Plzen goalkeeper.

The visitors doubled the lead just before the break when Jordi Alba deftly nodded the ball to the feet of an unmarked Torres who calmly slotted the ball into the net for a goal initially ruled out before a VAR review.

The Czech champions briefly cut the deficit in half when Tomas Chory converted a penalty after winning a spot kick in the 51st minute before Torres nabbed his second of the night on the break minutes later.

Plzen responded with a glancing Chory header in the 63rd minute to potentially set up a nervy finish until Pablo Torre slammed a shot into the roof of the net on his Barcelona debut to wrap up the victory.