FC Barcelona has one hand on the La Liga Trophy
FC Barcelona has opened up an eight point lead at the top of the league with a hard fought 1-0 victory at El Madrigal. On a night in which Jose Mourinho's unbeaten home record ended with a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Sporting Gijon, Pique's goal was enough to secure three points for us. With such a lead the title hunt has effectively come to an end for Real Madrid. Mathematically they still have a chance but practically its an impossible task for Jose Mourinho. Guardiola brought in some changes to the defense - Busquets and Pique formed the cetre defensive pair with Alves and Adriano lining up as full backs. The midfield had Mascherano, Thiago and Keita. Affellay, Iniesta and Villa formed the midfield. Messi started on the bench and Valdes wore the captain's armband. What would have been a very crucial game was made much easier by the fact that Real Madrid lost their unbeaten home record to Sporting Gijon early on the night.
In the 6th minute we were given a sniff of the task ahead on the night when Rossi was fed easily between our centre back pair. Luckily Valdes did well to cut the angle and eventuall claim the ball from his feet. Pique was made to look stupid in that move. In the 13th minute Valdes made a full stretch stunning save to deny Rossi from putting Villareal ahead. In the 38th minute Adriano had our first shot of target with an attempt from outside the box. The first half ended without any firther fanfare. We struggled to create any meaningful chances throughout the first half, our best moments were a handful of hopeful crosses and cutbacks. The only positive was that after the initial onslaught we easily kept Villareal at bay.
Barca looked much more determined after the break. In teh 49th minute Villa receieved a wonderful ball turned inside but his shot could only hit the side netting. In the 52nd minute Guardiola brought in Messi for Keita. With Messi in we wre easily dominating possession and control of the game, but surprisingly was struggling to create clear cut chances. In the 66th minute the Affellay forced the keeper to make a good save after receiving a good pass from Thiago. In the very next minute we went ahead and the goal came from the least expected source - Pique from a corner. In the 70th minute Bojan replaced Villa. In the 78th minute Mascherano produced a brilliant sliding tackle to prevent any apparent danger from a counter attack. In the 82nd minute the Villareal keeper denied a wonderfully taken free kick from Messi. The very next minute Alves had his shot saved by Lopez. In the 84th minute Guardiola took off Afellay and brought in Jonathan. In the 86th minute Valdes produced another save to deny Villareal from claiming an equaliser. Obviously the half had the usual late pressure from the opponent because of the 1-0 score.
Tonight was one of those rare nights when the League leaders extended their lead in three of the biggest leagues in Europe. Manchester United did it in England, so did AC Milan in Italy and Barcelona was no exception. This wasn't the most perfect or brilliant of display, but a performance which was good enough to secure the three points. The first half performance was absolutely poor but still had the posititive that we contained any threat from Villareal well. The team woke up in the second half and once Messi was also added to the mix produced a good enough display. Thiago's performance tonight has made Guardiola's job for next season a bit tougher. He does warrant more chance in first team and is absolutely ready to be a part of the first team. There weren't any big performance from our players but everyone in the end produced a decent enough display. The celebration towards the end by Barca players had made it very clear that the title challenge from Madrid is over.
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