By Kevin Fylan
Rueters
Wednesday, November 8, 2000; 4:57 PM

BARCELONA, Nov 8 – Barcelona crashed out of the Champions League at the opening group stage for the third time in four seasons on Wednesday, despite a convincing 5-0 victory over Besiktas at the Nou Camp.

Luis Enrique struck twice, Philip Cocu notched up his first goal of the season and there were late goals for Rivaldo and Gabri to help Llorenc Serra Ferrer's side avenge their 3-0 defeat in Turkey earlier in the competition.

But Leeds United's 1-1 draw at the San Siro left the result of the Barca match irrelevant, save to secure the Catalans third place in group H and give them the scant consolation of a place in the UEFA Cup.

It was a desperate disappointment for Barcelona who started the season with high hopes of improving on their run to the semifinals last term.

Defeats away at Besiktas and at home to AC Milan, plus their failure to beat either the Italians or Leeds United away, told against them as they failed to join Real Madrid, Valencia and Deportivo Coruna in the second phase.

Barcelona, needing to beat the Turkish side and see Milan win in the San Siro, resolved their side of the equation inside the opening 17 minutes.

Both goals came from corner kicks and exposed a glaring weakness of young Besiktas keeper Tuncay Fevzi on the high ball.

The first, on 11 minutes, saw Luis Enrique flick a header on towards the far post, where Coco slid in to get the crucial touch on the line.

The second six minutes later again saw Fevzi fail to clear, or even make an attempt to clear, an inswinging corner from the right.

This time it was Luis Enrique who beat a flat-footed Besiktas defence to poke home the ball.

Barcelona were in complete control and they had several chances to increase their advantage before the break.

Luis Enrique slipped a shot wide from around the penalty spot after a brilliant one-two with the lively Simao Sabrosa had carved open the Besiktas defence on 30 minutes.

Sergi then fired wide after a quick Barca breakaway.

The closest Besiktas came to scoring was a Tayfur Havutcu shot from the edge of the box that drifted wide, with Francesc Arnau well beaten.

Yasin Sulun also gave Arnau a brief scare as his flick header beat the Barca keeper only to go beyond the far post.

A half-full Nou Camp crowd were urging their side to go on and make certain of the victory as half-time approached but they were silenced as news of Dominic Matteo's goal for Leeds came through.

In the second half, fans were clearly concentrating more on radio reports from the San Siro and there was little atmosphere in the Nou Camp, especially after Luis Enrique's second goal.

The Spanish international midfielder latched on to a neat through ball from Simao, steadied himself and blasted first time past Fezvi in the 49th minute.

The crowd cheered again as they heard news of Milan's Serginho levelling the score against Leeds on 68 minutes to give Barcelona renewed hope.

Rivaldo struck a penalty after 80 minutes following a handball in the area and Gabri made it 5-0 with a right-foot shot two minutes from time but hope died with the final whistle in Milan.