FC Barcelona played their 4th match of the 2012-2013 season last night against Getafe and earned three more points to stay at the top of the league classification table. It was a great match for Barça because of who played and how they played.
The match started with some surprises in the lineup (for me at least) due to some injuries and a week of World Cup qualifying matches. Alexis Sanchez and Andres Iniesta both came back from their respective qualifying matches injured, so neither of them were in the lineup today. Head coach Tito Vilanova also decided to rest Leo Messi and Dani Alves, leaving a few more spots to be filled in the starting lineup. Barça started the match with Fabregas, Pedro, Tello, Thiago, Xavi, Busquets, Montoya, Pique, Puyol, Adriano, and Valdes. Tito had an interesting strategy for the game with Cesc playing the center forward position, Tello playing before Villa, Montoya at right-back, and Thiago returning to the midfield. I guess anything without Messi just looks strange!
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| Look who's on the bench! Photo from Sport.es |
Barça dominated the ball the first half in their customary manner and managed to get off a few shots as well. Tello beat his defender on the left a couple times but couldn't sneak any past the keeper. Thiago had two great shots, one off the crossbar and another stopped by the keeper. Xavi even tried once with a nice shot, also blocked by the keeper. The only goal of the first half came when Fabregas went into the left side of the area with the ball and two defenders trying to stop him. Adriano played it brilliantly, cutting inside Cesc and going towards the goal. Cesc lost the ball but it went straight to Adriano, who didn't hesitate to shoot on his first touch and surprised the keeper for Barça's first goal. Great play and shot from Adriano, who has scored two beautiful goals in the last two matches and definitely isn't going to give his spot up to Jordi Alba easily!
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| Perfect run and shot from Adriano. Photo from Mundodeportivo.com |
There was only one important refereeing mistake in the first half and one that I personally hate because I think it encourages diving. A defender trying to take the ball from Cesc swung his arm out to his side and caught Cesc in the neck, knocking him back and pushing him off the ball. It was definitely a penalty but Cesc kept fighting for the ball and never went down. The ref never blew the whistle and a million people collectively said, "he should have fallen down!" Oh well, I love to see a player who fights before he falls, it's just a shame that they will hardly ever be awarded a penalty in that situation.
The second half started with no changes for Barça and everyone wondering when Leo Messi would take the pitch again. The half started with more of Tello beating his defender but not quite able to get the ball around the keeper. The worst news of the day was in the 56th minute, Puyol tweaked his knee while stretching for a ball and it looks like he'll be out for up to 6 weeks with an injured ligament. Mascherano replaced Puyol for Barça's first change of the day, and Messi came on for Thiago a couple minutes later.
In the 65th minute the referee let Getafe get away with another penalty, this one even clearer than the first. Messi got away from his defender and was tripped from behind, inside the area. Clear foul, easy to see, the ref missed it.
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| Seriously, you didn't see that? Photo from Mundodeportivo.com |
Luckily, the ref didn't miss the next one just a few minutes later. Pedro made a great move in the area, going right and quickly cutting back left behind the defender. The defender lifted his foot and caught Pedro's ankle, bringing him down. The ref finally called one and Messi converted for his first goal of the night. In the 77th minute, Montoya (who actually made me forget that Dani Alves wasn't playing) took the ball down the right side and crossed it into the middle. The ball was slightly deflected by a defender, and Messi was there to easily score his second of the night on the first touch. Messi makes it look easy, but he's a master of being in the right place at the right time. Less than 20 minutes for Leo and he already had 2 goals!
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| Leo scores from the penalty spot. Photo from Mundodeportivo.com |
Of course Getafe couldn't go down that easily and got a goal in the 80th minute that looked like it was created in a pinball machine. The shot deflected one way off Adriano's foot, then another way off Mascherano's head, Valdes didn't know which way to go and the ball found the back of the net.
Villa got to play for the last few minutes of the match and as I said before, I was surprised he didn't start. He didn't take long to take advantage of his opportunity by scoring a beautiful goal in the 90th minute. Controlling a pass in with his chest, he touched the ball once with his right foot to get behind the defender and then absolutely killed it with his left foot to score Barça's 4th goal of the night. Beautiful goal and I was very happy to see it come from David Villa.
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| Killer. Photo from Mundodeportivo.com |
The highlights of the night were definitely the return of Thiago and Villa's goal. The bad point was Puyol's injury. He was already playing with a mask from another injury and now he'll be out for 5 or 6 weeks. Dude's having some bad luck.
Great game boys! I also have to comment that Madrid lost again last night and now have a whopping total of 4 points after 4 matches. I wish I could say that Malaga are going to be our toughest competition this year, but I know Madrid will be moving up the charts soon enough.
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| Trouble in Madrid! Photo from Sport.es |
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| Who lost? Me?? Photo from Sport.es |
One last comment with regards to the recent demonstration here for Catalan independence. As a foreigner, I'm really not very interested in politics, only in football. I did however see that both ex coach Pep Guardiola and current president Sandro Rosell support the movement. Guardiola ok, he isn't working in football at the moment, but in my opinion Rosell shouldn't be mixing FC Barcelona with politics. He even said that he supported the movement for independence, but he would still want Barça to play in the Spanish League. Yaa, right Sandro, like Spain is really going to allow one team from outside the country to play in their league when they have the possibility of winning it? I don't think that will happen. Spain will never let Barça stay in La Liga if Catalunya becomes independent, and a Catalan league would definitely be a little too boring. In my opinion it will be devastating for Barça if Catalunya becomes independent.
Wednesday night we start Champion's League!!
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