FC Barcelona moved to second place in the La Liga table behind Valencia with a 3-1 victory at San mames. Real madrid's failure to win against levante presented us with a great chance to leap forward them. In a match which saw two red card (Amorebieta, Villa) goals from Keita, Xavi and Busquets secured Barca a vital away win in one of the most toughest stadiums in Spain. Now its has to be seen how many match suspension does Villa receive for his foul. After a not so great performance against Gijon, we got to see the real Barca back on the pitch tonight. Debates will be on about the impact of the Amorebieta red card on the game, but I firmly believed that we were good to win even against eleven men. Guardiola started Adriano in the left back position, the rest of defense was as expected - Alves, Puyol and Pique. The midfield saw Keita and Xavi joining hand with Busquets. The frontline saw Iniesta, Villa and Pedro.
An entertaining first half show by Barca
Compared to the last match, this First half saw much more action. Both teams some took sometime to adjust to the extremely wet condition and it was Barca who settled first. In the 10th minute Adriano tried to curl a shot from the edge of box, after Iniesta did well to keep the cross in play. In the next minute we had our first clear chance. Xavi send in a great pass to Keita, his first touch was good, taking the defender away from picture but his shot was wonderfully saved by the keeper. In the 13th minute Villa had another great chance but his finishing was a bit too perfect hitting the post. Iniesta played a great ball putting Villa ahead and he only had the job of beating the keeper, which he did but forgot about the post. In the 25th minute Pedro saw his wonderful shot from outside the box being kept away by a one handed save. Meanwhile Bilbao was also creating a bit trouble with their aerial presence. But the defense held on well. In the 32nd minute Bilbao had a great chance and we were pretty luck to see it deflect for a corner. In the 34th minute Fernando Amorebieta was shown a straight red card after a lunge on Ineista. The red card was a bit ahrsh as he was rightly going for the ball,a yellow would have been appropriate. The half ended with Villa seeing his shot going high over the goal.
Barca Produces a Near Perfect Second Half
Second Half was crazy, every two minutes we saw a Barca attack. Athletic Bilbao started the second half better than us. Guardiola brought in Maxwell for Adriano fromthe start of half. In the 50th minute we had a big scare with San Jose hitting the post. The oppurtunity came from a free kick which we never cleared properly, frantic scenes followed trying to see the ball off the box, but eventually it fell to San jose who should have scored. We were pretty lucky there and we made Athletic pay for that miss soon. In the 55th minute Iniesta played a nice pass to Villa who produced a wonderful first touch pass releasing Keita in the box and Keita made no mistake with his finishing. That goal looked to have taken the stuff out of Athletic Bilbao and after that it was wave after wave of Blaugrana attack. In the 57th minute Pedro was denied by the keeper Iraizoz after Xavi's and Iniesta's shots were blocked. Next it was Pique who tried his luck with a shot from outside the box which the keeper again did well to keep out. In the 63rd minute Villa volleyed wide from a difficult Alves cross. Meanwhile Pedro and Alves were combinig wonderfully well on the right. Alves was running through the wing like a raging bull. In the 64th minute Iniesta hit the side netting after receiving a great ball from Pedro. he should have gone for the far post. After the world cup there is a sudden change in Iniesta's attitude, with now he is ready to take his chances. In the 69th minute Xavi send in a great ball to Alves on the right, alves cuts inside but shoots high. In the 74th minute Xavi put Barca 2-0 ahead with a shot from outside the bo. It looks like the shot took a slight defelection off a defender. In the 82nd minute Guardiola took off Iniesta and Xavi and brooght in Bojan and Thiago. It was a wise decision as these two men will be crucial in the mid-week's Champions League encounter. As Barca were preparing for the final whistle the game took a twist for the worse. In the 87th minute Villa secured himself with a needless redcard. The whole thing started with Carlos Gurpegi bringing down Villa outside the box, but the referee looked the other way on that, Villa was really frustrated and combined with the frustration of not able to score let Villa lose the plot. He raised his hand shoving Carlos on the chin, the rest was taken care by Carlos' play acting. In the 90th minute Bilbao scored through Gabilondo to make sure for a nervous end to the match. Athletic pounded on barca for an equaliser only to see Busquets scoring a good counter attack goal to finish off the match.
This is one hell of a win, especially considering that this has taken us ahead of Madrid in the table and also the fact that Messi was not in the team. Now the pressure will be on Real Madrid to keep up with us. Meanwhile Valencia is surprising many by remaining at the top of table. The best part of tonight's victory is the performance of Xavi and Iniesta. They looked really good throughout the match and was instrumental in all the chances created. Ales, especially in the second half was running wild and is my choice for man of the match. Keita was absolutely pathetic against Gijon, but tonight he was back to his best. Pedro had a great game and his undertanding with Alves looked terrifying. Villa did struggle with his finishing but I have to admit he complements the speed of the attack. But he seriously have to get the offside nonsense sorted out. I though Ibrahimovic was the worst with offsides, but Villa is making him look like an amateur.
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