Having booked their passport to Wembley on a wonderful night in the Camp Nou, it was time for FC Barcelona to turn their attention to the league priorities, and first up was a fierce local derby, against local rivals RCD Espanyol. Having seen their lead at the top of the table cut down to 5 points because of Real Madrid’s win yesterday, Barcelona went into this game with a chance to regain their 8 point advantage, and more importantly, inch ever closer to their 21st La Liga crown. Espanyol needed a win just as badly, as they were fighting to gain a Europa League spot for next season. Throw in a local derby with so many sub-plots, and a wonderful game was surely on the cards.
Pep Guardiola, with the intention of winning the league as soon as possible, sent out his strongest, and fittest, line-up. Valdes was in net, while Pique, Mascherano, Alves, and Fontas was chosen to guard the backline. It was our customary trident of midfielders, Iniesta, Busquets, and Xavi that were chosen, while the highly praised and successful MVP trident led our front-line.
Surprisingly, it was Espanyol who had the better of the opening 10 minutes, as some high intensity and pressure from our rivals prevented us from setting up our normal passing rhythm. It took over 18 minutes for the first chance of the game to arrive. First, Villa sent a weak shot into the arms of Kameni, Pedro then managed to cut inside from the right flank and fire a shot at goal, only for Kameni to punch it out. In the 22nd minute, Iniesta decided to get in on the act with a side-footed shot after some beautiful footwork, but once again Kameni produced a good save to keep the ball out. Alves then tried to replicate his wonder goal against Getafe, but this time, the ball fizzed past the right hand post. Chances were mounting, and it was only a matter of time before Barça managed to break the deadlock.
In the 28th minute, a piece of Messi magic almost put the blaugrana ahead. Messi managed to superbly control a chipped pass with the outside of his left boot, and after bringing the ball under control, turned Rodriguez inside out, and then only succeeded in dragging his shot wide from six yards out, albeit with his right foot. The very next minute, Barcelona took the lead, thanks to some wonderful footwork by Andres Iniesta. After playing a one-two with Fontas, he ran forward and after having skipped past Chica and Amat, slid a shot into the bottom left corner of the net. He then wheeled away in celebration, dedicating the goal to his newborn daughter.
Minutes before the halftime whistle, Villa could have scored the second goal of the night. Fontas passed the ball to Messi, who then back-heeled the ball to Iniesta, whose first time pass released Villa one on one with Kameni. Almost certain to score, Villa then managed to scoop the ball far and wide. Although the finishing need to be better, the interplay that resulted in the chance was described best by the guys over at Goal.com: “Barça played the beautiful game at its most beautiful.” A mesmeric run from Leo Messi resulted in a clash between Villa and Kameni, after the Argentinean had tried to play in Villa. With that the halftime whistle blew, a whistle that ended a intense period of pressure from FC Barcelona.
The second half restarted, and with less than two minutes gone, FC Barcelona scored their second goal of the evening. Xavi swung in a corner, and Pique battled hard to get in front of his marker and sent a downward header that nestled beautifully into the bottom corner of the net.
Osvaldo, Espanyol’s star man, tried to single-handedly drag Espanyol back into the contest. First, a beautiful turn saw him leave Pique on the floor, and his follow-up shot was palmed away be Victor Valdes. Moments later, the same man tried a bending shot which Valdes clung to safely.
Messi managed to win a free kick right outside the box, but the wall blocked his shot. Iniesta then tried to square the ball to Villa after a well-timed reverse pass from Messi. Unfortunately Rodriguez dived in to make a vital block. The rest of the game slowly ticked on, with Barcelona happy to keep possession and tick off some time from the clock. It worked, and after some keep-ball, the whistle blew to signal the end of the 35th game of FC Barcelona’s 2010-2011 La Liga campaign.
Although this was a fierce local derby, none of the teams managed to play to their full potential. Barcelona were clearly playing in a reserved gear, while Espanyol clearly lacked any attacking urgency, aside for Pablo Osvaldo. With only one point needed from their next three games, it would be wise for our beloved team to wrap up the league as fast as possible. With the wonderful Champions League finals coming up on the 28th of May, it would be best to rest some players for the upcoming games. Looking forward to the 28th of May, I am a tad concerned, one for Villa, and one for our inability to take our chances. Villa’s finishing needs to be improved upon, while our chances have to be buried. If we do play to our full potential (Remember November-December) then, I do not really see Manchester United standing a chance. Until then …VISCA BARCA!!!
Awards:
Man of the Match: Today’s man of the match award goes to Andres Iniesta. Although he didn’t start the game well, he improved and grabbed a wonderful goal. He then managed to take the game by the scruff of the neck, producing some wonderful passing and runs which really needed some better end results.
Stat(s) of the Day:
- Since the beginning of the season, No team has managed to score a goal against FC Barcelona in the first 15 minutes.
- Barcelona has not lost their last 27 official home games (All Competitions).
Image: AP Photo
1 comments:
Did you know that you can generate cash by locking special pages of your blog / site?
All you need to do is join Mgcash and run their content locking widget.
Post a Comment