BARCELONA ADVANCES TO THE NEXT ROUND AFTER DEFEATING PORTO 2-1.

After losing its first two group-stage matches, Barcelona defeated Porto 2-1 on Tuesday to make it back to the Champions League knockout stages. Portuguese players Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo each scored a goal in the victory.

In Europe’s premier club competition, Barcelona will be competing again in the round of 16 for the first time since Lionel Messi departed the team.

Barcelona finished Tuesday’s play with 12 points, three more than Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk, who also defeated Antwerp 1-0.

Pepê gave the visitors the lead in the thirty-first minute, but Cancelo and Félix in the next two minutes allowed Barcelona to respond.

Marc-André ter Stegen, Barcelona’s starting goalkeeper, was sidelined due to a back problem. Iñaki Peña got the start, and Diego Kochen, a 17-year-old goalkeeper who was raised in the United States and was part of the team’s youth program, was included as a substitute.

Sergi Roberto returned to the team following an almost eight-week absence.

Barcelona had not been playing well lately and was coming off a run of matches that included a 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano in their last Spanish league game and a 1-0 loss to Shakhtar in their most recent Champions League game.