Valdes – 7 – Would have got higher if he had more to do. All comfortable saves
Alves – 6 – His attacking wasn’t up to scratch today and he gave away too many free kicks
Marquez – 7 – Very solid at the back with his usual good distribution
Pique – 7 – Forming a formidable partnership with the Mexican. An improved performance
Puyol – 6 – Not his usual maurauding-self. Was a game for a wingback not Puyol. Had nothing to do defensively
Busquets – 7 – Good ball play and closed the ball down quickly. Plays much better alonside Yaya
Yaya – 8 – Dominant in midfield and anything that went past Busquets was immediately mopped up
Xavi – 6 – Maybe it is high expectations but he did very little with the ball tonight.
Messi – 8 – Drew foul after foul which Dani wasted and set up a lot of chances. Once again was the match winner
Henry – 6 – Again an improved performance but was unlucky infront of goal. His marker was their best player
Eto’o – 7 – Effort above application from Samu. Didn’t have his shooting boots on
Subs:
Sylvinho – 1 – If it was a rating system of 0-10 it’d be a 0. Touched the ball once or twice and wished he hadn’t
Keita – 7 – Ran around, scored. Good 15mins or so
Bojan – n/a – Nearly scored a thunderous header but was only on the pitch for 5 mins

I feel the need to rate Dani Alves twice in a match. His attacking seems by far and away the most important part of his game and defending an afterthought.

I still feel that we are not using Messi as much as we could. Messi when he has the ball normally faces 4 defenders full on. When he doesn’t there normally is 2 facing him with another 1/2 watching. We still give him the ball and say BEAT EVERYONE. If he doesn’t we blame him. When he beats 3 or 4 and then runs out of room we say he should have passed. When he passes we say he should have shot.
Messi can do just as much damage by drawing the defenders and the team passing to someone who is free.
His dribbling was unbelievable tonight but we had no one else willing to take their defender on, on a regular basis.
That’s me…

the malian surprise..