Barça Forwards Continue to Dominate

Saturday night at the Camp Nou, the FC Barcelona machine was firing on all cylinders once again, as the Blaugrana struck early and often against an woefully overmatched Deportivo La Coruña side, cruising to a 5-0 victory in a game that was every bit as lopsided as the score would suggest. Barcelona not only held the ball for nearly two-thirds of the match, they used that possession to create every scoring opportunity in the match, outshooting Deportivo 21-1, with ten of those shots on target.

Once again the Barcelona’s front line of Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o and Thierry Henry abused Deportivo keeper Daniel Aranzubía, as the trio combined to score all five goals. It took just 20 minutes for Barça to strike, when Xavi picked out Messi on the right side with a typical pinpoint pass, which was taken by the brilliant Argentine, whose run into the middle of the pitch to left four defenders in his wake, and in a scene that has become almost commonplace (though hardly boring), Messi beat Aranzubía to his left side, squeezing the ball just past the post for the game’s opening goal.

The rest of the first half was defined by scoring chances created by the world’s top right back, Dani Alves, whose recent work down the right side has been nothing short of sublime. Just moments after Messi’s opening goal, Alves received the ball on the right wing and launched a beautiful cross into the box, where Thierry Henry was waiting. The Frenchman elevated just as the ball arrived, connecting on a strong header that found the back of the Deportivo net- 2-0 Barcelona. Then, just before halftime, in a near-replay of Barça’s second goal, Alves again produced a gorgeous cross from the right wing, this time finding the head of Seydou Keita, who was unlucky not to score, as his the header was saved. However, Aranzubía was unable to hang on to the ball, which trickled into the six-yard box, where Samuel Eto’o was waiting to pound his seventeenth league goal into the open net, effectively eradicating even the faintest glimmer of hope Deportivo might have had.

Despite producing just six shots in the second half (they had 15 in the first), Barcelona were no less the superior side. Attempts by Messi and Andrés Iniesta were the lone threat to the Deportivo goal for much of the second half, though it seemed inevitable that Barcelona would find the inside of the Deportivo net yet again. They’d have to wait until the game’s final ten minutes, but the Blaugrana did add to their tally, first in the 82^nd minute when Xavi, near the touchline in the Deportivo box, just to the left of the goal, played the ball back into the box, where it was collected by Henry, who slotted it past Daniel Aranzubía to make the score 4-0. Four minutes later, the door already slammed shut on Deportivo, Carlos Puyol joined the attack, making a powerful run into the box, where he was upended by Aranzubía, resulting in a penalty kick for Barcelona and the sending off of the Deportivo keeper for the inappropriate challenge in the box. Eto’o stepped up and coolly put an exclamation mark on Barcelona’s second 5-0 victory of the season.

The home matchup with Deportivo marked the halfway point of La Liga’s 2008-09 season, and Barça’s dominance was fitting, as this side has put together as transcendent a half-season performance as any in recent memory. The statistics are almost comical- Barcelona has played nineteen league games, are unbeaten in their last eighteen, twelve points clear of second place Real Madrid, having scored a staggering 59 goals while allowing just thirteen for a superhuman +46 goal differential. Barcelona has averaged a margin of victory of nearly two-and-a-half goals per game, a number which jumps to three goals per game at home, and already boast three players with at least eleven league goals- Samuel Eto’o with a league-high 18, Lionel Messi with 12 and Thierry Henry with 11, their 41 combined goals surpassing the totals of all but two teams in La Liga.

Barcelona’s comprehensive victory against Deportivo La Coruña emphatically reinforces an opinion that’s been spreading through the football world- this Barcelona side is one for the ages. They are enjoying a completely unbeatable run of form the likes of which other teams can only dream of.

On the heels of a terribly disappointing season, in his first half-season as manager of the club for which he starred as a player, Pep Guardiola has shown himself equal to the task with which he was presented, looking poised to ascend to similar heights as a manager that he did a s a player. The second half of this season will be hard-pressed to equal the first in terms of dominance, but it’s safe to say that Guardiola’s men are the most gifted and the most entertaining team in the world, and the second half will provide the opportunity to watch this sublimely gifted team take on all challengers as they look to accumulate the silverware that will immortalize what is shaping up to be a truly historic season.

A Defining Moment in Pamplona

On Sunday, FC Barcelona traveled to Pamplona, looking to extend its unbeaten run in La Liga to 17 games against bottom-of-the-table Osasuna. Despite facing a very spirited Osasuna side supported by an outstanding crowd of nearly 20,000 fans, not to mention a blinding fog that thickened as the game went on, Barça was not expected to encounter much trouble en route to three points. What they did find was a classic brawl and a home side that had not come to simply serve as punching bags for Barça. In the game’s dying minutes, La Blaugrana trailing last-place Osasuna, and were face-to-face with an upset defeat for the ages.

What a difference a year makes! Had this game taken place 2007-08 season, trailing an inferior opponent in a hostile environment, it would not have been at all surprising to see the Barcelona players lose their focus and ultimately fall behind 3-1, or even 4-1. However, this is not last season! What Barcelona took from their visit to Osasuna is worth more than just three points- on a day when they were not at the brilliant best, this Barcelona side exhibited the character and the heart of a champion. It’s these victories, in seemingly meaningless games where defeat could be accepted and justified, that define great teams. If, as they seem poised to do, this Barcelona side goes to become a team for the ages, this will have been the game in which they elevated themselves from merely a dominant club, to greatness.

In the game’s opening minutes, it looked as though the Barcelona juggernaut would continue to steamroll through Spain. In the tenth minute, Lionel Messi produced a characteristically brilliant run and looked like a lock to score, but his shot, which beat Osasuna’s keeper, Roberto, glanced off the posted and was cleared before Messi could pounce on the rebound. However, despite dominating possession for the next 35 minutes, Barça were not playing up to their usual high standards, were only able to generate three shots on goal, coming from a pair of threatening moves from Thierry Henry and a straightaway attempt from Xavi. As the first half wound down, with Osasuna looking as though they’d be taking a scoreless draw into the dressing room, La Blaugrana were able to conjure up a moment of brilliance to opening the scoring in stoppage time, as Messi found Samuel Eto’o near the top of the box, and Eto’o produced a beautiful strike that beat Roberto in the lower left corner, just second before the halftime whistle.

Despite holding the slim 1-0 lead, Barcelona’s somewhat uninspired play continued in the second half. Given the difficult conditions, combined with Barcelona’s ability to dominate when holding a lead, the match had the look of an unspectacular, businesslike away win against outclassed competition. This continued until the 63^rd minute, when Osasuna, who had quietly built a bit of momentum, won a corner, which shockingly found its way into Victor Valdes’ goal, after being headed high in the air toward the vacant far post by Miguel Flaño, which should have been manned by Gerard Pique. Following the equalizer, with the home fans working themselves into a frenzy, Osasuna became the aggressive side, their confidence and belief growing by leaps and bounds.

It was against this backdrop that the intensity of the game was ratcheted up several notches in the 70^th minute- with Sergi Busquets on the ground following a hard challenge, Lionel Messi held up play in anticipation of a whistle from the referee that never came. As Messi stopped, Osasuna’s Josetxo, in a resourceful but very shifty move, crept up from behind and stripped Messi of the ball sparking an attack at the other end. Once Barcelona had managed to neutralize this attack, chaos erupted at midfield, as Barcelona’s players were livid at Osasuna’s show of poor sportsmanship, while the home side defiantly defended its actions. The volatile situation was ultimately diffused, though not before three players (Victor Valdes for Barça; Josetxo and Walter Pandiani for Osasuna) were booked. Following the incident, the home side managed to find even greater confidence, carried by their now fanatical crowd, all of which culminated in one of the season’s most jawdropping, David v. Goliath moments, as Walter Pandiani found the back of Valdes’ net, giving Osasuna a 2-1 lead.

It was then, faced with their greatest adversity of the season, defeat seemingly inevitable, that Barcelona players put their stamp on this squad. With Andres Iniesta, having entered in the 65^th minute, and Bojan Krkic replacing the ineffectual Seydou Keita in the 77^th, Barcelona again began to dominate possession, particularly on right wing, where the combination of Messi and the out-of-this-world Dani Alves, was obviously too much for Osasuna to deal with. Having played a solid but unspectacular game to that point, Alves dominated the game’s last ten minutes, seizing the moment and creating opportunities leading to each of Barça’s final two goals. In the 80^th minute, Alves made a beautiful run down the right wing, and as he approached the touch line, he sent a picture-perfect cross across the Osasuna box, where Xavi was waiting to unleash the equalizer. Just a few minutes later, again on the right side, Alves won the ball from a defender and found Messi on the wing. In moment that only he can create, Messi moved down the right wing at full speed, before sliding toward the left, and with three defenders all within three yards of him, the best footballer on Planet Earth today fired a laser from the top the box, which curved around the keeper and slammed the door on Osasuna’s upset hopes, giving Barça a dramatic 3-2 victory.

Perhaps Barcelona should never have been trailing in Pamplona, but the reaction of Pep Guardiola’s men in the face of such adversity could prove to be the signature moment of the season- not to mention 2009’s greatest finish, just eleven days into the year.

Messi Dominates Cynical Atletico Squad

FC Barcelona traveled to Madrid to face Atlético Madrid in the first leg of their Copa del Rey matchup at the Vicente Calderon Stadium on Tuesday evening. The ensuing game, a 3-1 Barcelona victory, can best be described as a battle between the brilliance of Barça (or perhaps the backheels of Barça, as they attempted at least 30 such passes) and the thuggery of Atlético Madrid.

While the game’s opening minutes saw Atlético threaten the Barcelona goal, this was a game that would be dominated by the style and quality of La Blaugrana. Despite taking the field without the likes of Xavi, Samuel Eto’o and captain Carlos Puyol, there was never a doubt as to Barcelona’s superiority on this day, as they unlocked the Atlético goal just 12 minutes into the game behind a brilliant give and go between Lionel Messi and Dani Alves, with Alves finding Messi in the Madrid box with a picture-perfect backheel pass, and Messi beating a helpless Gregory Coupet at the near post to give Barça a 1-0 lead.

Facing a deficit against arguably the top club in world football, Atlético Madrid chose to engage in a different type of battle against their opponents, taking advantage of every opportunity to brutally foul any Barcelona player within leg’s reach. At times, Atlético’s play became so cynical that their own fans began to turn on them, showering the team with whistles for their refusal to play a clean game. Dani Alves and Andres Iniesta were each victimized by excessively harsh fouls, but it was obvious that Madrid’s primary target was the brilliant Lionel Messi, who was hammered by numerous Atlético defenders throughout the match. As the first half drew to a close, Barça still held its 1-0 lead, and Atlético Madrid had already accumulated three yellow cards.

The second half would bring more of the same rough play from Madrid, as the home side racked up two more booking in the first ten minutes of the half, the second infraction winning Barcelona a penalty kick, as John Heitinga was shown a straight red card for tripping Messi directly in front of the Atlético net. Messi took the resulting penalty kick and, as expected, coolly sent Coupet flying in the wrong direction as buried the ball into the lower right corner of the net- 2-0 Barcelona.

Moments later, in the 58^th minute, Atlético managed to cut the Barcelona lead in half (though it was hardly deserved), as a corner kick from Simao found Ujfalusi, who rose to meet the ball squarely and deposited it in the Barça net, making the score 2-1 in favor of the visitors.

Barça nearly managed an immediate answer when Bojan was able to find Iniesta, who found the back of the net, but was ruled offside. However, this proved only to be a momentary reprieve, as Barcelona continued to impose its will on the match in pursuit of a backbreaking third goal. In the game’s 79^th minute, Lionel Messi, as he so often does, turned the pitch into his own personal playground. Taking the ball on the right wing, the Argentine wizard evaded two Atlético defenders, changing direction twice on his way into the box, and set his sights on Coupet’s net. Though he would beat the French keeper, Messi’s shot from near the top of the box grazed the crossbar and went out of play- an unjust ending to a sublime moment of skill. However, Messi was not finished! Seconds later, with the ball loose near the top of Madrid’s box, Andres Iniesta lifted a gorgeous pass into the box, where Messi was waiting to receive the ball, smoothly dribble past Coupet and bury the ball in the Atlético Madrid net, completing his hat trick and finishing off Madrid, 3-1.

Moments later, Pep Guardiola removed Messi from the game. As Lionel Messi made his way to the bench, having put the finishing touches on yet another masterpiece, the legions of Atlético Madrid fans in attendance showed their appreciation to 21 year-old genius, showering Messi with a thunderous standing ovation. Given the cynical, sometimes dirty, performance given by the home side, this reaction, even in defeat, to the transcendent performance turned in by Lionel Messi, was truly a credit to the Atlético Madrid fans.

Barcelona will take its presumably insurmountable 3-1 lead into the second leg of this fixture, to be played on January 14 at the Nou Camp.