Lionel Messi capped off a historic night with a brilliant hat-trick which saw him moving clear of Barcelona's all time Top Scorer Paulino Alcantara to become the top scorer in Barca's history. The very fact that he is just 26 years old make that achievement so unbelievable, but that's something we need to come to terms with. The numbers he could come up with by the time he retires could be astronomical. He is currently just one short of Real Madrid Legend, Hugo Sanchez's all time La Liga record; which definitely would be his next target. Could he achieve that at the Santiago Bernebeu next week? Who knows! Considering the fact that Osasuna was lying on the bottom half of the table, Martino saw it a great chance to give Bartra a start. He, along with Mascherano formed the central defensive pairing in front of Valdes. Alba and Alves completed the defense. The midfield had Xavi,Busquets and Iniesta. Messi, Pedro and Sanchez made up the front trio. Pinto, Montoya, Adriano, Song, Cesc, Neymar and Tello started from bench.
The start of the match resembled a bit like the Valladoid match last weekend. Our passing was rather sloppy to say the least. In the 9th minute Osasuna thought they had moved into the lead when Armenteros tapped the ball into the net after Valdes made a brilliant save; luckily for us he was in an offside position. Like last week we struggled to get Messi involved and it looked unless he moves into the midfield he wouldn't get involved. In the first 15 minutes we were struggling to create any sort of attack. That all changed in the 18th minute when Messi opened the scoring for the night. Pedro started the move with a brilliant run on the left wing, he slipped the ball to Xavi who played Sanchez on the right to send in a cross to find a deft touch from Messi into the goal. In the 20th minute Alexis had a great chance to double the lead but could only chip it over the bar. Suddenly we were finding it more comfortable in possession, a fact which was more of a result of us pushing forward. In the 22nd minute, Sanchez made amends for his earlier miss when he arrived late to connect to a Jordi Alba cross into the goal. In the 34th minute Iniesta made it 3-0 with a goal which could be a candidate for the "Goal of the Week". Iniesta unleashed a deadly left footer into the far corner of the goal. In the 39th minute Xavi forced a brilliant save from the Osasuna keeper. In the 40th minute Pedro came close scoring his first after a series of brilliant skills from Iniesta, Alves and Pedro himself. Osasuna was struggling to keep up with Barca's tempo.
In the 49th minute Pedro did a Roulette turn releasing him from the markers before hitting the side netting. In the 61st minute Martino took off Xavi Hernandez for Alex Song, a decision made with next week Clasico in mind. In the 63rd minute Lionel Messi scored his second of the night after linking well with Iniesta. That goal took him past Paulina Alcantara to make him the Top Scorer for Barca in it's history with 370 goals and still counting. In the 70th minute Lionel Messi missed a golden chance to score his hat-trick, but his attempted chip went high over the bar. In the 75th m=minute Messi was denied by Osasuna keeper. In the 77th minute Tello came in for Sanchez and scored the very next minute to make it 5-0 with a peach of a curler. In the 88th minute Lionel Messi scored his third of the night after Alves picked him in the box. In the first minute of injury time Pedro scored the 7th of the night after Messi put played the ball to him between a host of Osasuna legs.
This season Barcelona have been a bit of inconsistency. We could be really great on the night, like against Machester City or could be really sloppy like against Valladoid. So it is always a toss up between which one of this version is going to turn up on the night. This match had a bit of the latter in the beginning and a lot of the former. In the first fifteen minutes we were playing exactly similar like the Valladoid match, but after the fifteen it was vintage Barca. Some would say that it was the goal which made that change, but I would argue against it. After the fifteen we started playing a higher line of defense which compressed the space and that resulted in our boys retaining the control without much fuss. And that would be going to be the key next week. Messi has been continuing with his recent good form, but there will be doubts raised about his away record this season and also about his team. Pedro and Sanchez made a huge impression, maybe even putting themselves ahead of Neymar for a start in Clasico. Regardless of our recent bad record away from home, this performance raises the expectation.
All About FC Barcelona
AllAboutFCBarcelona.com is a Blog dedicated to the Most prestigous Club in the world, FC Barcelona by an ardent fan. Here I discuss about the Latest happening surrounding our Club and present my Views about the same.
Liked the Post? Spread the Word>>>
