FC Barcelona extended their lead at the top of La Liga to fourteen points with a fighting 2-0 victory against Deportivo at the Camp Nou. A first half goal from Alexis and another one from Messi late in second half secured us the all three points. Messi has now scored 40 times in the league this season.The match may have been a usual La Liga encounter, but there was no denial of the fact that everyone's thoughts were on the Milan clash on Tuesday. Considering the importance of the task ahead on Tuesday against Milan it wasn't much of a surprise to see a lot of important players being rested. So the first eleven which was picked to face Deportivo were Pinto, (who replaced Valdes who is suspended for four matches), Alves, Puyol, Mascherano, Adriano, Cesc, Song, Thiago, Alexis, Villa and Tello. The bench had Masip, Pique, Alba, Busquets, Iniesta, Pedro and Messi. The fact that both Villa and Puyol started was a source of encouragement, but I had my doubts whether this is an indication whether they will not start against Milan?
The first real danger we created came out in the 12th minute with Alves rushing forward on the right, a good cross created enough confusion in Deportivo ranks and its cleared by the defnse somehow. In the 14th minute Fabregas was put on through on goal with a long range pass, but he blasted his shot high over the bar with only the keeper to be beaten. In the 16th minute Thiago played a great ball behind the defense finding Tello on right, but his shot was blocked brilliantly by Aranzubia. In the 21st minute Villa dropped back and released Tello on left, Tello skipped past the right back and send the ball into center where Sanchez missed that chance(not a surprise anymore). In the 23rd minute Tello once again the threat of his pace when he was released by Thiago, but was unlucky to see his shot deflected off the bar. In the 25th minute Tello created a great chance for Villa who took some time to put his shot and when he tried Aranzubia saved it brilliantly. In the 38th minute we went ahead with Sanchez rising over to meet a smart cross from Alves to make it 1-0. In the 44th minute Sanchez sent in a great cross in to the box, but Villa's brilliant volley went just wide.
We started well in the second half but the intensity came down a bit after sometime. Roura brought in Messi for Villa in the 62nd minute. In the 67th minute Iniesta came in for Thiago. In the 75th minute Busquets replaced Cesc Fabregas, who had a very poor night till that time. In the 88th minute Messi made the game safe for us with a brilliant goal to take scoreline to 2-0. Messi with that goal continue his goal scoring streak which stands now at 17.
This match was a bit of strange one. It can be split into two pahses - one before Villa exited and one after. In the first phase we looked so good with our movement. There were always more space for our midfield and for our attacking line. We may not have been clinical with our finishing, we looked good with our movement. One of the reason was the fact that Villa stayed as a center forward and was pushing the back line back. Once he went off the match looked like more of the match against Milan at San Siro. Deportivo easily closed us down. All this has to be taken into account while picking up the starting line-up against Milan. It would be wise to use Villa as a center forward than on the flanks.
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