Manita Delight & Messi’s 200th game for Barça – Your Typical Sunday: Barcelona 5 – 1 Valencia Match Review.

Beware - Barca are back!

It was about a week ago that Barça met Valencia. A week ago Barça were “doomed,” players were “out of form,” Pep was useless, and Pique should be hanged. How much can a week change things around? Well a lot it seems, Barça really had a rollercoaster of emotions this past week.

Fresh from their fantastic UCL win on German soil against Bayer Leverkusen, Barça resumed their La Liga schedule with a must-win home game against Valencia; actually all the remaining Barça games are a must-win from now on. Forced Alves and Mascherano suspensions, accumulated with Xavi’s calf problems meant that Pep needed to reshuffle his pack, yet again. Pep decided to field a very interesting line-up of VV – Montoya – Pique – Puyol – Abidal – Iniesta – Busquets – Cesc – Alexis – Messi – Pedro.

Interesting here refers to the fact that from the starting 11, 9 players were homegrown players from La Masia. This was not a nonsense match in which your fate is already sealed and you field 9 players from Barça B team and see what happens, this was the second most important La Liga fixture this year, the most important obviously being the Clásicos. Seeing that line-up alone made my day.

The match started and Barça seemed really fired up with Albelda earning a yellow card in about 5 minutes for a foul on Messi after a quick break. 4 minutes later the Camp Nou witnessed its first goal of the night, unfortunately it was the opposition’s goal. Valencia took the lead after Feghouli broke from the left and sent a cracking cross towards the middle. Montoya, making his first start of the season, failed to track back Piatti, Pique had no idea what to do, and Valdes totally misjudged the flight of the ball. Piatti chipped the ball into the net. 1-0 Valencia.

The defensive mix up immediately spurned Barça into action, with Pedro trying his luck only to end up firing straight at Diego Alves. The equalizer wasn’t that far away though. Pedro, who was having a good game on the left, sent a cross towards the center which was initially blocked by Rami. La Messiah pounced on the loose ball and guided the ball into the net from the tightest of angles. 1-1, game on!

The build up to the goal was marred by an injury to Valencia’s RB Miguel, who had to be stretched off and be replaced by Ricardo Costa. Barça were definitely in their good mood and it didn’t take long for them to take the lead. On the 27^th min, Iniesta sent a beautiful through ball to Abidal. Abidal cut the ball to the center for Messi. Messi’s initial effort was fumbled away by Alves, but Messi made no mistake the second time, firing the ball into the roof of the net.

Alexis Sanchez was also having a cracking game on the right side. He had a great chance to extend the lead but Alves expertly saved it. A few moments later, after receiving yet another brilliant pass from Iniesta, Cesc went for a half-bicycle kick that shook the cross bar. The chance drew a brilliant tweet from @BarcelonaOffside “Cesc meet Crossbar, Crossbar you know Cesc, right?” Just cracked me up!

The first half soon ended. And Barça resumed the second half from where they ended the first, continuously controlling the tempo but no real threat on Valencia’s goal. The first real chance of the second half came as a result from Montoya’s cross on the 61^st min. After his defensive blunder, Montoya definitely gained more and more confidence as the game moved along. His perfect cross to Messi’s head was destined for a spectacular goal. However, a combination of Alves and crossbar (yet again) saved Valencia.

A minute later Cesc treated us with an inexplicable miss. Barça were on the attack, and after a whole bunch of rebounds, the ball found its way to Cesc. He was all alone at the penalty spot and with an open goal to aim for. Foolishly and embarrassingly the-not-so-Fab shot well off-target. Pep’s reaction to the miss was worth a thousand words.

Valencia threw on the dangerous Alba for the faded Piatti on the 66^th min and soon afterwards Valencia had a great chance to draw level. After some excellent interplay between Valencia’s players near Barça’s penalty, Pique had to clear a ball over the top towards Soldado. The clearance however fell straight to Feghouli who fired a fantastic volley at VV’s goal. The wonderful shot drew an equally brilliant stop from Valdes who was quick to go down and put a big hand to the shot while Pique cleared the rebound. Pep decided to make his first substitution of the game on the 68^th min by introducing Tello for the tired Pedro.

Tello, as usual, made his presence felt almost immediately, causing havoc down Valencia’s right side. After his embarrassing self-tumble inside Valencia’s penalty area, Tello was the catalyst for Barça’s third goal and Messi’s hat-trick. Tello charged down the right flank and fired a stinging shot that Alves only managed to push away. The rebound fell nicely to Messi who made no mistake to earn his match ball.

Pep decided to make his second substitution of the night by introducing Thiago for Cesc. Pep comically nearly shook the life out of Cesc for his horrendous second-half miss. Messi was clearly fired up and at his PlayStation mode and was in a mood for another goal. Busquets gave him the chance with a beautifully weighted direct through-ball. Messi charged down the center with one of his trademark runs, followed tirelessly by Valencia’s defenders before chipping the ball over the helpless Alves. 27 goals in 23 games, yep he’s definitely lost his spark.

The last Barcelona change saw the Maestro Xavi replacing Don Iniesta on the 85^th min. It’s just remarkable how easily you can see each player’s effect on the pitch. What Iniesta offered in terms of magnificent close control Xavi made up for his wide range of passes. Just as the added time ran down, and unsatisfied with his 4 goals, Messi’s through ball towards Alexis was half-heartedly cleared by Valencia’s defense. The ball was bouncing around before Xavi expertly chipped the ball over Alves and into the net. A magnificent goal from our magnificent Maestro!

The match soon ended and the Camp Nou was in Manita Heaven once again!

A picture is worth a thousand words, what about a video?

Barcelona 5-1 Valencia – All Goals by goalsarena2012-2PERSONAL THOUGHTS

1. Dear Pep: if you trust Montoya to start a match against Valencia, how come this is his first start of the season? Aside from his defensive blunder that led to Valencia’s goal, Montoya had a fantastic match. I think we all know how much trouble Mathieu and Alba have caused us down the right hand side, right? Montoya kept defensively disciplined while also pinning Mathieu to his own half with his charging runs and excellent crosses. The guy is definitely Alves’s understudy, and his promotion to the first team should happen now and not at the start of the new season. Alves needs competition to stay on his toes and Adriano is just not the answer.
2. After a well-documented, troubled week, Pique definitely needed his Bayer Leverkusen eye opener. Whether that or the news that both Muniesa and Bartra will be promoted to the first team this season, Pique definitely had a very solid game. We all need to remember what Pique has contributed so far to Barça’s success, and at 24, there are yet a lot of chapters he can help write.
3. It’s just wonderful seeing Pedro getting back to form. More or less it was him who caused Miguel off and nearly caused his replacement Costa the same fate. He clearly lacks match fitness as he disappeared during the second half, but Pedroadrunner is surely getting there.
4. Alexis Sanchez, respect man! Honestly it was as if there were 3 of him out there. It was really a shame he didn’t get the chance to score a goal to mark his performance.

RATINGS

VV – 7: My 5 year old nephew was screaming “jump” when Piatti score Valencia’s first goal, VV horribly got that all wrong. He more than made up for it by keeping Barça in the match with a brilliant save in the second half.

Abidal – 7: Allowed Feghouli way too much space to cross the ball for Piatti’s goal, but he hardly put a foot wrong afterwards.

Puyol – 8: Was Soldado actually playing? Enough said.

Pique – 7.5: Best performance in light years it seems. Hope he now adds consistency to his game. Gets half a mark cut off for not knowing where Piatti was for the goal, as I personally think it was his responsibility to cover him.

Montoya – 7: If it was Pique’s responsibility to cover him, it was definitely Montoya’s duty to track Piatti back. Other than that, Martin definitely had a great game and I really hope we get to see a lot of him until the end of the season, the guy is worth it.

Busquets – 9: If you hardly notice Sergio in a game, it’s because he’s having a cracking one. Let’s put aside his brilliant assist to Messi’s fourth goal, Valencia’s midfield had no chance against his distributions and clever passes.

Cesc – 8: How on earth did he miss that sitter in the second half is anyone’s and Pep’s guess! His initial Barcelona performances lacked synchronization with his team mates a bit but he’s surely in the groove now, and his passing seems to have improved as well. Fab indeed!

Iniesta – 9.5: Don Don Don, what can I say about you? Dribbling – check, passing – check, vision – check, he was absolutely brilliant, not a single player from Valencia could have touched him, I don’t think anyone in the world could have touched him. Definitely man of the match if not for you know who.

Pedro – 7.5: Pedroadrunner is coming back; it’s just a matter of time. Ran his socks off but faded in the second half after losing steam.

Messi – 10: Do I really need to explain? It’s with performances like these he’s called the best in the world, and he is!

Alexis – 8.5: An excellent game from the Chilean. His work ethic and discipline is second to none. Really unfortunate not to grab a goal himself but sacrificed himself for the team tirelessly.

SUBS:

Thaigo – 7: Replaced Cesc and immediately got involved. Got unfairly treated by his team mates who could have fed him the ball on more than one occasion for a goal, Thiago kept going nonetheless. Bit by bit, a he’s becoming an important part of the team.

Tello – 7.5: A comical fall was applauded by the Camp Nou as he was caught in two minds about what to do and he lost the ball completely. His direct runs make opposition players double up on him, this creates space for his team-mates, the space Messi fully exploited for his and Barça’s third goal.

Xavi – 8: What a way to round off the match with a world-class chip that Alves haplessly saw hit the back of the net. Magnificent!

A good win, a week of rest before the away game against Atletico Madrid, this is a brilliant morale booster.

VISCA BARCA!

Some Related Barcelona Posts:

• FC Barcelona 2, Valencia CF 0, Or, Barça Are Through To The Copa Del Rey Final
• Barça La Liga Champions 2011- The Game at Camp Nou
• Granada CF 0 – 1 FC Barcelona Match Review: Ode to Xavi
• El Clasico As Vintage As They Come: CDR Barcelona 2 – 2 Real Madrid Match Review
• Athletic Bilbao 2 – 2 FC Barcelona Match Review: The Battle at San Mames

Category: Team News