Malaga CF 1 – 4 FC Barcelona: Messi Mesmerizes in Malaga

A nouveau riche Malaga side that is slowly coming into its own this season could not contain a brilliant Lionel Messi and capitalize against a Barca side resting some of its key players between Clasicos. Rather, Messi again demonstrated why he will go down as one of the all time greats leading Barca to a comfortable 4-1 victory.

Messi the Magnificent

Match Highlights

With one eye toward Wednesday’s Clasico, Pep rested Barca’s Maestro Xavi, el Capita Puyol, and this season’s favorite newcomer Cesc.  Instead he fielded a starting line which saw Valdes in net, Alves, Mascherano, Pique, and Abidal in the back, Iniesta, Busquets, and Thiago in the midfield, and Adriano, Alexis, and Messi up front. Meanwhile Pelligrini’s starting side consisted of: Caballero, Gamez, Mathijsen, Demichelis, Monreal, Camacho, Maresca, Isco, Cazorla, Eliseu, and van Nistelrooy.

The first five minutes saw Malaga maintaining possession in the Barca half, an unusual sight during any Barcelona game. No real goal scoring chances came out of it, but a Xavi-less Barcelona side would clearly need to others to step up and start controlling the midfield.

 Soon thereafter, Messi made his presence known in the game and the Barca attack was on. Messi escaped a defender who was tugging him back and sent a ball wide to Thiago on the far side of the box. Thiago played a great one time pass to Alexis, who got the header on goal but unfortunately right at the keeper. Minutes later Messi created space in the center, got around the defenders, and went for a shot on net, but it was deflected wide for a corner.  

Valdes giving Casillas a run for his money as best keeper in Spain.

At the 15 minute mark off a swift Malaga counter, Valdes made an excellent save to deny Isco’s shot from the edge of the box. On the ensuing corner, Valdes was again up to the challenge acrobatically saving one header from going in and reacting quick enough to deny a strong rebound shot as well.  Sigh of relief from the Barca bench.  

At the other end, Adriano won a free kick on the left side of the box. Messi sent a great ball in and while Pique lost his marker, he cannot get his header on net sending the ball well wide. Hopefully his moc moc comrades will give him some pointers on headers during training this week.

Again, Barca threatened with Adriano picking out Thiago, and then Messi sending a nice ball through to Adriano, but in both instances Malaga’s keeper is there to intervene. Barca continued knocking at the door with Iniesta sending a shot well over and Abidal and Messi linking up in a play eerily similar to the one leading up to Abidal’s goal at the Bernabeu last Wednesday, but had nothing to show for their efforts…yet.

The little Argentine rises up and puts Barca above.

With a feeling of inevitably given the run of play, Messi scored a beauty in the 33^rd minute. Adriano sent a lovely cross over and Messi headed it firmly into the corner of the net.  1-0 Barca.

 Malaga had a shot to equalize at the very end of the half when a good ball is sent over Barca’s high back line. Masch did an excellent job running it down though making sure Malaga cannot get a shot off on net. Half ended with Barca up a goal.

Lexi is a fan of scoring, but not so much of headers.

Barca came out of the locker room firing in the second half. In a nice build up of play that saw Barca take multiple shots on net, Alexis was able to put the rebound into the upper corner of the net giving Barca a 2-0 lead shortly into the second half.

Minutes later Messi did everything himself getting the ball near midfield, going around multiple defenders, and slotting it low to the bottom corner. Beautiful. 3-0 Barca.

Now you see him, now you don’t.

After the third goal, Barca took the foot off the gas pedal and Malaga fouled more regularly.  Busquets was on the receiving end of a nasty challenge, but appeared to be okay.  Adriano also ended up on the ground and Pep replaced him with Dos Santos. Pep had also brought Cuenca on for Alexis, no doubt with Wednesday in mind.

Game opened in the middle of the second half with Barca feeling secure in the scoreline and subs coming on. Malaga took a corner that Barca intercepted and Pique led the charge forward on the break; poor Pique, if only Pep would give him one game as a forward. You can tell it would make his day.

In the 70^th minute, Messi won a free kick outside the box and sent a beautiful shot off the inside of the crossbar. With each free kick he gets closer and closer. If the trend continues, Messi’s next free kick should end up in the back of the net.

Pep directing the troops.

Minutes later, Pep made his third and final sub as Pedro came on for Iniesta, who walked off to a round of applause from the Malaga fans acknowledging his World Cup heroics. Barca maintained the attack with Thiago set up nicely, but he pushed the ball back to Cuenca instead of firing and the chance was lost. 

 Messi made no mistake though minutes later as he evades two defenders attempting to trip him up and at full stride slots the ball home.  4-0 Barca and sheer brilliance from Messi.

Unstoppable.

Without el Capita commanding the defense, they appeared to be napping late in the game and Malaga capitalized. Victor saved the first shot, but the rebound fell neatly to Rodon who slotted it in the back of the net. Malaga missed two other golden opportunities late in the game and Valdes did not appear to be particularly pleased with his back line. At the other end, Messi had a few more opportunities to see his name go up the scoresheet again, but the keeper was up to the challenge.

Final time: 4-1 Barca.  What the team lacked in fluidity without Xavi, the squad made up for in hunger for the win spearheaded by the magnificent Leo Messi.

Band of Brothers

PLAYER RATINGS:

VV – 9: Flawless in first half singlehandedly keeping Malaga off the score sheet. Brilliant in the second half as well though perhaps could’ve handled the initial shot on net a bit better so the rebound didn’t end up in net. Overall, wonderful today though.

Alves – 6.5: Quiet game from Dani; some nice touches on both ends, but some loose passing as well.

Masch – 8: Aptly named The Wall by Ray Hudson. Easily one of the best tacklers in the game, good speed on the attack and intervened to prevent a number of Malaga chances.

Pique – 8: I love Pique. I especially enjoy Pique’s forays forward as it is so obvious how much he’d like to be on the attacking front, but knows he’s most needed in the back. What Pique may lack in concentration sometimes, he more than makes up for in technical ability, positioning, and pace.

Abidal – 7: King Abi had another chance to score again, but couldn’t control it. His pace and defense were good though he did trail off a bit in the second half.

Iniesta – 8: good involvement, passing and lovely dribbling, but his finishing is still a bit off. Hard to find fault in much else though in one of the best midfielders in the game.

Busquets – 8.5: Another strong performance from Busi; orchestrated more than usual in the middle with Xavi resting. Also contributed with some timely interceptions on defense.  Good all around.

Thiago – 6.5: Played well though gave away more balls in the midfield than he should have. Involved on the attack and had a couple good chances on net.

Adriano – 7.5: Strong performance providing some of the best crosses Barca has seen all season.

Alexis – 8: Lexi looked good creating havoc up front with his runs and was positioned well to put away the rebound for Barca’s goal.

Messi – 10: Phenomenal. MOTM without question. He shone throughout the match not only with his hattrick of goals, but also with his vision and passion. A force.  

SUBS:

Cuenca – 5.5: Fine, but nothing special. Came on with almost a third of the game left and didn’t have much of an impact.

Dos Santos – 5: Not yet able to keep up with the big boys, but will hopefully come into his own. 

Pedro – 6: Did not see much of the ball, but did help open the field some and provided some good runs.

(photos courtesy of fcbarcelona.com)

Some Related Barcelona Posts:

• Inconsequential Match #1: FC Barcelona @ Malaga, Preview
• Live Blog: FC Barcelona @ Malaga
• FC Barcelona 5 – 0 Atletico Madrid: The Hum of a Well Oiled Machine
• A Messi Post to Celebrate His Messi-ness
• LIVE BLOG: Malaga vs FC Barcelona

Category: Barcelona, Highlights, La Liga, Lineups, Messi, Review