A young looking FC Barcelona side strolled to a 2-0 victory against third division side AD Ceuta in their opening match of this season's Copa Del Rey tournament. Goals from Maxwell and Pedro in the first half sealed a valuable away victory, which almost see us through to the next round. In the absence of a host of first team players, Bojan Krkic captained the team. Pinto has been our choice of keeper for this competition and that continued in this match also. We had a new central defense pairing with Fontas and Batra flanked on each side by the experienced Maxwell and Adriano. The midfield was much more experienced compared to defense with Thiago, Mascherano and Keita. Jeffren, Bojan and Pedro formed the attacking trio as expected.
FC Barcelona Dominates the Match from the start
Once again our rival Ceuta lined up in a defensive 4-5-1 formation and the early exchnages made it very clear that we have to work really hard to break it. We had our first shot on target in the 10th minute when Adriano skipped past two players and took a shot from outside the box, which didn't trouble the keeper. We were settling into our neat passing playing style. In the 16th minute Maxwell put Barca ahead in a move started by himself. Maxwell gave the ball to Bojan and continued his run into the box, Bojan neatly slipped the ball through and Maxwell did really well to finish from such a tight angle. Meanwhile our opponents were looking to exploit our aerial weaknes by floating in long balls into the box. In the 25th minute Pedro ended the match as a contest when he slided onto a Maxwell cross to score his first goal of the season. In the 27th minute Bojan Krkic missed an easy chance when he hit the bar from a Pedro cross. In the 29th minute Barca were awarded a free kick after Jeffren been brough down. Jeffren fell awkardly and dislocated his shoulder. I feel really sad for the youngster, who just now came from a long injury layoff. Nolito replaced Jeffren in attack.
Second Half saw very little action from Barca
The second goal has already killed the mathc and the second half saw very less action.In the 63rd minute Bojan saw his shot deflected wide after some excellent piece of play by Nolito in the box. AD Ceuta were trying to impose themselves a little bit than in first half and did force Pinto to make his first save in the 66th minute. In the 72nd minute Bojan's shot from outside box was deflected for a corner but we couldn't make anything out of that. In the 79th minte Bojan wasted another golden chance when he was played through by Mascherano but it was really sad to see the striker struggling to round off the keeper in such a one on one situation. Guardiola brought in Dos Santos for teh final minutes of the match, he should have done that earlier.
This was indeed a very comfortable victory for a weakened Barca side. The fans were really cherishing the chance of seeing some of the star players playing. Sometime you feel that it is pretty unfair to deny these fans their chance to see the biggest stars of the game. The presence of Iniesta or Messi could have driven them crazy. Puyol warming up almost drove them crazy. The youngsters in the side gave a good account of themselves and the early signs are that the experience in the second division is helping them a lot. The central defensive pairing of Fontas and Batra looked very comfortable. Thiago did well in controlling the pace of the game, but we did expect him to impose a bit more offensively. Keita was in his usual hard-working role but yet again he failed to instill any much of attacking option. Bojan, the Captain of the night had an average game. He was really good in dropping back and linking with midfield butr what was missing is the confidence to take on the defense, something Nolito attempts everytime. As a striker you would want your player to do that more often. Adriano was average throughout the match and would need more time to settle in, but Maxwell was sensational throughout the match.
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