FC Barcelona 3, Atlante 1, a.k.a. “The Leo and Pedrito Show!”

By: Ade C. | December 17th, 2009

Before we turn into an analysis of the game, and its ups and downs, let us rejoice in this:

Pedro Rodríguez Ledesma, Pedrito, is the only footballer who has scored in all possible competitions for his team (namely, six) in a single year.

Pedrito scoring against (from top to bottom and from left to right) Athletic de Bilbao in the Spanish Supercopa; Shakhtar Donetsk in the European SuperCup ; Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League; Almería in the Spanish Liga; Cultural Leonesa in the Copa del Rey; and Atlante in the Club World Cup.

If you are done smiling, then, and breaking out the champagne, let me say that I was hoping it didn’t come to this. I expected Barça to be able to subdue what looked like a lesser team (on paper) without needing to bring out the big guns. But an early goal and an eight-person defence made the appearance of Leo Messi necessary, providing further ammunition to the whispers that accuse us of being Messi-dependent.

For this match, Pep tried to walk a fine line between playing an all-star team and appearing not to take this competition seriously, as a result he rolled out Valdés, Alves, Puyol, Márquez, Abidal, Xavi, Busquets, Touré, Pedro, Ibrahimovic and Iniesta, leaving half of our Puyiqué defence on the bench, not to mention Messi, who was just coming out of an ankle strain, and Henry.

José ‘El Profe’ Cruz, on the other hand, came out full-force with Vilar, Martínez, Navarro, Rojas, Velázquez, Arreola, González, Guerrero, Bermúdez, former Madridista Solari and their own Rafa Márquez.

We were just settling into the match when goalie Vilar cleared the ball, which then gave an odd little bounce as it landed on the Barça half; our Rafa Márquez chose the worst possible moment to slip, Valdés ran out of his goal like a headless chicken, Dani Alves couldn’t pick up enough speed for a last-minute ditch and Atlante defender Rojas scored in the 4th minute, silencing an stadium that had until then been cheering for Barça.

Barça 0, Atlante 1. I don’t blame anyone who was at this point having flashbacks to the 06/07 season. I know I was.

The goal seemed to stun Barça a little. We had a good opportunity thanks to Busquets not one minute later, but Vilar kept his head, and we settled into a rhythm that had Barça with lots of possession (going on 80% at times), but not one clear shot on goal, while Atlante proved dangerous when Vilar tried to assist his strikers directly, foregoing such pesky things such as the midfield.

Ibrahimovic was our best bet then, and near the 23rd minute he actually drew Vilar out to the corner flag and then made a lovely cross, but there wasn’t a Barça player in the box who could push the ball into the empty goal, and the opportunity was lost.

It wasn’t until half an hour had passed that Barça players began to realise that yes, they were actually allowed by FIFA to shoot on goal. First Iniesta, then Yaya, then Ibra with a madly powerful free kick… but nothing came out of those opportunities and time was passing.

Remember how I’ve bemoaned our lack of precision in set pieces, especially corner kicks? And how I never miss a chance to badmouth Busquets? Well, watch me eat my words (and pass me the ketchup, will you?).

In the 35th minute, Xavi curled a lovely CK into the box, Yaya caressed the ball with his head so it landed at Busquets‘ feet, and our lanky midfielder was quick to smash it into the back of the net, past Vilar. Then, he celebrated in a way that has me fearing there will soon be a little Busquets tackling and back-passing his way into the world.

Barça 1, Atlante 1. Back where we started, at least.

Busi is poking his tongue at me... yes, Sergi, I admit it, you played well, as much as it pains me to say it.

Getting the draw seemed to calm our nerves some, and we were back to the endless passing against an Atlante that was defending with eight, sometimes nine, players (only their Rafa Márquez hung back towards the midfield to see if he could capitalise in another mistake from our Rafa Márquez). Dani Alves had a great opportunity when we were already in injury time, but Vilar blocked him well and we went into half-time with the 1-1 draw.

Not bad, but nowhere as good as it should have been.

Speculation was rife while the players were in the changing rooms. It was obvious that Pep had to change something, but what? Should Thierry Henry come in, leaving Iniesta to move back to the midfield to associate with Xavi? Should we trust that Ibra and Pedrito would score, given enough time? Should Pep give minutes and an opportunity to Bojan?

The answer came one minute after both teams, with no subs, walked into the pitch and resumed playing: the stadium became a storm of applause and shouts of ‘Me-ssi, Me-ssi!’ as our Golden Boy started to warm up, alongside with Piqué, who might have been overlooked for the first time in his tall and boisterous life (we have first-hand reports of the noise thanks to reader Mariam, who was there and whose ears are still ringing).

Barça still enjoyed possession, but the finishing touch was missing. We had time to waste two or three opportunities before, in the 54th minute of the match, Messi came in for Yaya, and Piqué came in for Márquez. Now Pedrito swung to the left, Iniesta moved to his more natural position next to Xavi, Busi stepped back to be closer to the defence, and Puyol gave a sigh of relief as he welcomed his better-looking half into the defence.

One minute later, Ibra slipped Messi a delicious cross and our Golden Boy touched the ball for the first time to slip it cleanly past the reach of his Argentinean teammate, Federico Vilar.

Barça 2, Atlante 1 and Pep almost cracked a smile behind his ever-present water bottle. Things suddenly made sense again.

Look at our Golden Boy, saving the day...

It was as if Pep had waved a magic wand. The difference between what we were seeing now and the team we had seen in the first half was clear as day. Even if Leo was being hounded by Vásquez and couldn’t touch the ball as much as he wanted, even if Atlante still tried to mount their Vilar-fuelled counterattacks, Barça now looked settled, solid and all business.

And then Iniesta, who had been looking unusually feeble during his stint as a forward, took the ball from Ibra’s care and gave the best ever possible present to Pedrito, who only had to exercise his great finishing touch to beat Vilar and achieve a record that I think will sit in the history books for a long time.

Barça 3, Atlante 1. The sun would have smiled down on us if it hadn’t been night-time in Abu Dhabi. Even Pep smiled, although he tried to hide it.

*This* is how you celebrate a record, ladies and gentlemen... isn’t it?

But Atlante was far from dead, and just failed to score after an uncharacteristically wobbly moment from our defence. Not three minutes later Valdés made up from his mistake in the first half by resolving a great one-on-one with Atlante’s Rafa Márquez, who had slipped past Abidal.

And then a bit as bad news, as Iniesta was subbed off with a slight limp and a hand holding his left thigh and Bojan came in his place. Leo, whose ankle didn’t yet seem to be ready for much running, stepped back to play besides Xavi, leaving fresh-faced Krkic his place as Barça began to revel in their newfound superiority.

Bojan, unfortunately, be it from nerves, be it as a consequence of the very few minutes he has played this season, did not have a good day for a striker. He missed at least three clear opportunities to score, but in return he was prolific and accurate in his passes, and Ibra also had a rare moment of inaccuracy that prevented him to score of a precious Bojan cross just after the match’s controversial play, which saw Pedrito knocked to the ground in the Atlante box and given an offside call instead of the penalty kick the Barça players were demanding.

There was still time for a few more Barça attempts, and several Atlante runs, before the referee blew his whistle, certifying that Barça will play the Club World Cup final against Estudiantes de la Plata on Saturday.

Overall, I am happy. We suffered from a combination of bad luck, poor defending and a typical Valdés blunder very early in the match, but we never lost our collective head, even if we needed Messi to come and save us in the end (but, if he’s so good at and likes doing it, who are we to complain?).

They look happy for the result. And proud of their team. As we all should be, really.

“This was the trick match, it really was,” said Guardiola. “To start off like we did is very dangerous, but we have one thing going for us, which is that in the face of adversity, we always have six, seven or eight players ready to step forwards.” Then, in his usual optimistic vein, he added, “To have suffered to win today will help us for the final.”

“Barcelona, without Messi, is still the best team in the world, but with him they are from another galaxy,” said José Cruz later. “Estudiantes has to improve a lot from what I saw yesterday (playing against the Pohgang Steelers), if they want to beat Barça.”

And now, for my utterly subjective grading:

Valdés: 5. He could have done things very differently in the Atlante goal, but he made up for it later against Márquez and in the few CKs Atlante had. The light grey kit looks awful on him, though.

Alves: 7. He was lonely without Messi and saw preciously little of the ball while he wasn’t there; that, along with a couple of defensive slips, detracted from his good work in the second half.

Puyol: 8. Solid, dependable, great. I’m running out of adjectives for our captain.

Rafa Márquez: 4. Call it lack of playing time. Call it having a bad day. Call it showing his age. I don’t care. The team doesn’t feel safe with Rafa on the field, and that’s that.

Abidal: 7. Maybe he feels threatened by Maxwell, maybe he is imitating Alves, but Abidal is involving himself much more on the attack lately; he had a couple of mistakes on the defence, though.

Busquets: 8. If he played every day like he played today, I wouldn’t poke fun at his bony knees. Not only he was great with the reflexes as he scored, he played well alongside Yaya, and even better when he had to replace him.

Yaya: 7,5. Our Tower of Strength is back. He played consistently well, assisted Busquets in his goal and maybe didn’t deserve to come off for Messi, but who are we to argue Pep’s decisions.

Xavi: 8. Having him in the midfield, it was understandable that Atlante preferred to skip that part of the playing field altogether.

Iniesta: 7,5. He’s better as a midfielder than playing the attack alongside with Ibra, but his work in the second half (and his assist to Pedrito) were remarkable. Hope the problem in his thigh is nothing serious, although it definitely seems he will be missing for the final.

Ibrahimovic: 7. He missed a few chances he shouldn’t, and seemed a bit too eager to score, but he played well and connected beautifully with Messi.

Pedrito: 10. Just for the amazing, amazing record. And for the goal.

Leo Messi (54’): 10. The team is twice as good when he’s playing, iffy ankle or not. Golden Ball, FIFA World Player, canonization… nothing is too good for him.

Gerard Piqué (54’): 7,5. I don’t see any reason why he and Puyol shouldn’t always play, barring serious injury or imminent Apocalypses.

Bojan Krkic (76’): 5,5. Yes, the kid missed three or four clear opportunities, but nerves and lack of playing time will do that to you. He had some great passes to make up for it, though. And I caught a glimpse of him after the match and I think he was crying, so I’m feeling very sorry for him.

Guardiola: 8. He knew what had to be done, and he did it. And he rocked that grey suit like no one else. What more can you ask from a manager?

Here, have some hightlights too! Watch the lead-up to the second goal, that is Barça at its best there.

Now we’re on our way to the final. Estudiantes de la Plata awaits us, and they aren’t going to make it easy, but we really, really want that trophy, so let’s keep our hopes up… visca el Barça!