FC Barcelona consolidated there position on the top of the La Liga standing with a 2-0 victory against Ateltic Bilbao at the Camp Nou. Ina match Barca dominated throughout, they struggled to opened the scoring for so long. In the end it was the substitute Neymar who opened the scoring followed it up with one more to make the night comfortable in terms of scoreline. There wasn't much surprise in the line-up fielded by Luis Enrique for this important clash in La Liga. Munir was once again rewarded by a start with Messia and Pedro, thanks to all his good work so far. The midfield saw what we all expected with Busquets, Rakitic and Iniesta lining up. Once again Xavi was not given the start position. Mascherano, Mathieu, Montoya and Alba formed the defense in front of Bravo. Incidentally there were rumours that Bravo rushed back from International duty earlier than expected due to the intense competition for the position at Barca! Truth or Not it worked!
As expected the game started with Barca taking complete control of the proceeding. It no more a surprise to anyone that we end up with maximum possession at start and that happened here also. In the 4th minute Pedro had the first shot on target in a beautifully orchestrated match. Munir released Montoya in the box, who managed to square the ball to Pedro before falling down; unfortunately Pedro could only shoot guide the ball straight at the keeper. Atletic has been a very tough opponent for Barca in recent times, and they soon got organised better after the initial tense period. Even then Messi and Co. were completely dominating possession. In the 19th minute Messi played a beautiful over the top ball allowing Munir to break the Offside trap, unfortunately he could not compose himself in front of goal and ended shooting high over the bar. The game just faded out slowly and was woken up when Iturraspe danced in to the box and shot at Bravo. Between the 35th and 40th minute Barca had a couple of decent run at Atletic defense but on every occasion we were simply denied by a last ditch defensive effort. In the 41st minute Messi played Munir straight at goal but the youngster lost his footing at the point of striking, still managed to put the ball to Messi whose effort was saved by another last gasp effort from almost the entire Atletic defense. In the 43rd minute Rakitic tested the Atletic keeper with a brilliant volley in the box. The very next time Messi and Munir combined again forcing another save from Iraizoz. Going into the break Luis Enrique could not fault his players effort, it just the luck that wouldn't let the ball go in.
Pique came in for the Mascherano at the start of second half. Mascherano picked up an injury in the first half and the did continue. So safely we could say the substitution could have been a precaution. In the 50th minute Munir put the ball in to the net after getting on to the cross from Alba, unfortunately the linesman wrongly adjudged it as offside. In the 53rd minute Messi put the ball to Alba into the box, Iraizoz made a spectacular save to deny the Spanish full back. In the 59th minute Munir saw another one of his effort, this time a header end safely at the hands of Iraizoz. In the 63rd minute the youngster Munir was taken off for the Brazilian Maestro Neymar. The introduction of Neymar increased the pace of the game and the chances were pouring in. Within a matter of time we created three brilliant chances but in the end even God was left wondering why the score remained still at 0-0. In the 79th minute Neymar scored for Barca at last after Atletic gave the ball away in the midfield and Messi released Neymar through. This time there was no mistake from the finish nor there was any last gasp super human effort. That goal was in the making from the restart. In the 84th minute Neymar scored the second of the night, this time he has to give a huge vote of thanks for Messi whose brilliant run to the box made the goal.
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