Normal service were restored at the Camp Nou with an emphatic 5-1 victory against the Greek Champions. The match's importance grew following the 2-0 dfeat at the hand of Hercules. This also had its fair share of twists with the Greek side taking the lead in the 20th minute to leave Camp Nou stunned. Barcelona responded well and have to say that Barca could and should have scored more goals. Panathanaikos didn't have the defense to hold back this Barca side and even though they went ahead, it was just a matter of time Barca over run them. Guardiola decided to do away with his experiment and fielded his best eleven as I predicted in the FC Barcelona vs Panathanaikos Preview. Messi undoubtedly once again was the man of the match with two goals and would be very dissappointed in missing the penalty. The other goalscorers were Villa, Pedro and Dani Alves. We had our best defensive line-up for this match with Alves, Pique, Puyol and Abidal as the back four infront of Valdes. The midfield had Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta. The three men attack saw Messi on the right, Pedro on the left and Villa in centre.
FC Barcelona Attacks from the Start
As expected FC Barcelona were on the attack from the word go. We had our first chance in the third minute when Messi's header from a Pedro cross was saved by the goal keeper. Then in the 6th minute Xavi had a great chance but was denied by Goal Keeper. Messi send a great ball to Iniesta in centre in the box, Iniesta turned brilliantly laying the ball to Xavi whose shot was saved excellently by the custodian. The in the 20th minute against the run of play Panathanaikos scored through Gavou. The goal came from the mistake from Puyol, who failed to deal with a long ball from the Greek goal keeper. Cisse played the ball ahead of Abidal and Pique exposing the defense and the rest was an excellent finish by the French man. Suddenly memories of the recent defeat against Hercules flashed on my mind but Xavi was not interested in any of those. In the 22nd minute Xavi send in a great ball spotting Messi's run and Messi did brilliantly with the finish lifting the ball over an advancing goal keeper. In the 33rd minute David Villa put Barca in the lead with his first Champiosn league goal for Barca. The goal came from a corner which headed on by Busquets at the near post and finished off well by Villa at far post. In the 43rd minute everyone though Barca increased the elad to 3-1 but Messi was denied by the cross bar. The move started with an excellent run by Villa who cut inside and squared the ball to Pedro, pedro put the ball to Xavi in the box who had the choice of shooting but laid it off to Messi. But Barca weren't going to be denied the third goal andd when it cam it came in some style. In the injry time Messi scored the best goal of the match. Messi started the move with his trademark run into box, played a one-two with Xavi and then another one-two with Pedro and then finishing off brilliantly.
FC Barcelona in total comtrol in Second Half
As expected Barca too full control of the match in the second half. It was a big surprise that we failed to increase the lead in the first half an hour of the half. It ahs to be attributed to too much tiki-taka. In teh 55th minute Messsi was brought down in the box following a brilliant and was awarded a penalty. Messi who had an impecable record with Penalties with the goal keeper stopping a powerless shot very easily. I believe that was one of the poorest penalty kick. In the 59th minute Pedro could have scored but he tried to be too clever allaowing the defense to close him down. In the 66th minute Villa missed a great chance. Iniesta released Abidal on the left, who sent in a great cross into the centre but Villa failed to make any contact. Guardiola replaced Villa with Bojan in the 70th minute and he played a huge role in the next goal. In the 78th minute Bojan send in a great reverse pass to messi, who like one he can do beat the goal keepr on his inside with a shot, but the ball hit the far post nad then the near post and then hit Pedro before going into the goal. Messi ahd a few shot on target after that all saved by goal keeper. Then in the injury time Messi send in a lofted ball which was headed onto the goal by Dani Alves.
This was one hell of a response after that disappointing defeat. Messi was absolutely best with his finishing but was sloppy at times. Xavi was brilliant, so was Busquets. Iniesta was average, so was Alves. Guardiola has some work fine tuning our defense. the way that goal was conceded exposes a great danger in future matches. It could be crucial for this weekend's encounter against Atletico Madrid.Eventhough Panathanaikos didn't have a compact defense, this victory could become a catalyst for Barca's success.
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