In a sensational display which could be sending shivers across Europe, FC Barcelona destroyed the visiting Malaga team by half a dozen goals. The display was so phenomenol that a 6-0 final scoreline was indeed injustice to Barca. Barca was also helped with the Malaga team's attitude and plans which saw them defending deep and trying to crowd Barca out of the box. Then you can't blame them either as it could be suicidal for them to come and attack Barca and leave spaces all over the place. Once again our brilliant attacking midfield pair of Xavi and Iniesta set up this vitory. There were some concerns with injury picked up by Xavi, Iniesta and Toure. But the good news is that they all are set to recover well in ten days time. Iniesta now will not be available for Spain's match against Turkey. Barca were 4-0 ahead by half time with goals from Xavi, Messi, Henry and Eto; after the break Eto and Alves struk to complete the tally. Guardiola lined-up a starting eleven as expected - Alves, Marquez, Caceres and Sylvinho formed the defense infornt of Valdes. Xavi, Toure and Iniesta formed the midfield. Messi, Eto and Henry formed the usual front three.The game started with Barca completely in control. In the 3rd minute Iniesta's shot was vlocked by Malaga goal Keeper, Goitia after a neat one-two between Iniesta and Eto. In the 14th minute Henry headed wide from a great Alves cross. Alves seemed to have found his form back and was a revelation in attack in the right flank. Eto was linking deep and that was causing all kind of havoc for Malaga. Then in the 19th minute Xavi took Barca deseringly ahead with a low shoot past after receiving a pass from Eto. Then in the 25th minute , Messi showed again why he is way ahead of other in the world at this moment. Xavi sent in a long aerial cross to Messi, what happened after that was purely magical. Messi chested the
ball ahead of the defender and sets of on another magical Messi run into the box; inside the box he played a magical little dribble to take away the ball from the two defenders; but then I thought he might have miscontrolled it but he still found the upper right corner of the goal with a great right foot shot. The little dribble he did was so magical that my friends (one is a ManU fan and other a Chelse fan) was silenced. Here on it was clear that Malaga has to endure a long and tough night. In the 32nd minute Xavi produced a defense splitting pass putting Henry ahead, who rounded off the Goitia and slotted the ball into the goal with inside of his foot. In the 39th minute Eto saw his shot blocked after being fed by Iniesta after a great run into the box. In the 40th minute Henry saw his good shot from outside the box tipped over by Goitia. In the 42nd minute Messi saw his shot saved by Goitia; the defenders gave the ball away to Messi who had only the Goal Keeper to beat. That was just an unbelievabl miss and the reaction of Guardiola to that miss was simply awesome. In the 43rd minute Eto entered the scoresheet after a great move. Iniesta laid the ball to Sylvinho on the left; Sylvinho send the ball to Messi through a defenders leg; Messi played the ball to Xavi who gave the ball to Eto on the right inside the box; Eto clamly slotted the ball home with a fierce shoy through Goitia legs. Then in the 45th minute Messi saw his fierce shot blocked off Eto.Barca was again the first one to take the initaiative in the second half. In the 47th minute Messi wasted another easy chance when he allowed Goitia time to make a save after he has earlier blocked off Xavi's effort. Then
in the 49th minute against run of play Valdes was called into action. Valdes pulled out a great one hand diving save to deny Salva's header. Then in the 51st minute Iniesta send in a beautiful chipped cross ahead of the defense on to an advancing Alves; Alves produced a neat header over the keeper to register Barca's fifth of the night. In the 54th minute Valdes pulled off another save to keep a clean sheet intact. In the 57th minute Eto scored his second of the night. Sylvinho who is improving with more matches he is playing blasted a great shot from 25 yards out; Goitia saved it but the rebound fell to Henry who unselfishly squared the ball to Eto for a simple finish. It was surprising to see Barca not able to increase the lead even with half an hour left. Soon after the goal Guardiola took off both Iniesta and Xavi. Camp Nou faithfuls gave both the players a deserving standing ovation when they were taken off and was replaced with Bojan and Gudjohnsen. That substitution put almost five starikers on the pitch. The tempo of the game dropped after that and the only decent chance was for Bojan who shot his shot saved by Goitia off a great Messi pass.Iniesta is said to be out for ten to fifteen days. That means he will not be available for International duties; but should be back in the squad for Barca's next match. Eventhough the performance at attack was great but we were troubled at times at the defense. But credit to Caceres and Marquez for holding firm. Keita who filled in for Toure played well; but it also showed that Toure is the best option we have in that position. Overall this was great result and a great step forward. We have clearly gotten over the little slump we had and what we need now is to have our players to escape any injuries.
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