Barcelona finished their Champions League Group D campaign on Tuesday with a 2-0 home defeat of dull Rubin Kazan, dpa reported.
The goals were scored in the second half by defender Andreu Fontas and midfielder Victor Vazquez, two of the many youngsters given a rare start by Barca coach Pep Guardiola.
Fontas, making his Champions League debut, said that "it was impossible for things to go better for me tonight. It was a complicated game, but we played well together."
It was a game which showed the strength in depth of Barca's much- vaunted youth sections, at the same time as confirming the Catalans' domination of the group from start to finish.
Barca finished with 14 points from their six matches, four more than second-placed FC Copenhagen, who beat Panathinaikos 3-1 at home in the group's other final match.
Kazan finished third with six points, Panathinaikos bottom with just two.
Guardiola gave a well-earned rest to Xavi, David Villa, Dani Alves and Pedro, and left Carles Puyol, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi on the bench.
Kazan needed to win to qualify - the same as they did in the Camp Nou last season - but never looked capable of spring a second surprise. As usual, they defended heavily in depth but rarely caused trouble on the break.
Two of Guardiola's youngsters, Jeffren and Bojan, had to go off injured early on, and this contributed to a scrappy, disjointed first half.
Barca improved after the break and the first goal came in the 51st minute, after a short corner. The elegant Thiago set up Fontas and the latter's shot hit the hand of defender Vitali Kaleshin and trickled over the line.
The night improved still further for the 58,00 crowd when Messi came off the bench and livened things up with his usual tricks.
The second goal came eight minutes from time, with Vazquez finishing with a calm low shot after having being played through by defender Adriano.
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