FC Barcelona moved ten points clear of Real Madrid with a 3-0 win against Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou. With this this side has broken the long standing record of most consecutive victories in La Liga. What makes it more sweet was the fact that it was held by that legendary Real Madrid side of Alfred Di Stefano. On an historic night Lionel Messi was the hero, notching up yet another hat-trick. Guardiola had Alves, Abidal, Pique and Maxwell in the defense. Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets formed the midfield and Villa, Messi and Pedro made the attacking trio.
David Villa had our first shot of the night when he sent an attempted volley way high of the goal. We were having the lion share of posession but surprisingly was creating very little in terms of clear cut chances. BUt then in the 17th minute as been the case of whole season, Lionel Messi opened the scoring for Barca. He cut inside at the edgeof the box, three defenders got into each others way and Messi made no mistake with the finish. In the very next minute David Villa had a brilliant shot hitting teh side-netting. In the 20th minute Messi was put through by Alves, but Messi went for a extravagant curler, which failed to curl. In the 26th minute De Gea stopped Pedro from scoring from another great reverse pass by Alves.
In the 28th minute Messi had the second of the night. The build up was pretty much scrappy, Villa's attempt to find Messi was not properly dealt with the defense and Messi made no mistake. In the 42nd minute Aguero danced into our box got past three defenders but Abidal was at hand to block of his final shot. The very next minute Villa had another shot whistling past the post. The first half ended with we compltely dominating but still not playing in full form. Aguerro did troubled our defense a couple of times, but he was missing his strike partner Forlan.
Atletico Madrid came out much determined in the second half and was dominating the early exchanges. In the 52nd minute Atletico had a great chance but Pique cleared it off the line. The arrival of Forlan after the half was causing us some serious trouble. In the 68th minute Messi's free kick from the edge of box was easily caught by the keeper. In the 73rd minute David de Gea produced a finger tip save to deny a brilliant header from Messi. In the 77th minute Pedro saw his shot from the edge of the box going just wide. In the 79th minute Lionel Messi completed his hat-trick. That was yet another scrappy finish. David Villa was played through by Messi, but Villa shot was blocked by the keeper but Messi slide into pounce on the rebound. Guardiola shortly took off Iniesta, Xavi and Pedro and brought in Keita, Afellay and Bojan.
It was yet another routine victory for the side. And we never got off third gear throughout the match. With the lead now swirling to ten points, there could be enormous pressure on Real Madrid. We were at times exposed by the aerial balls and speed of Atletico forwards. But that was more due to a bit of complacency creeping in this match. With a hat-trick on his name, Messi should be automatically considered for the Man of the Match. But the best Barca player on the pitch was Eric Abidal. He cut off every tiny bit of sniff Atletico had. Iniesta once again was pretty good in the midfield with his tricks in full display. Pedro and Busquets had some average game but still was efefctive.
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