FC Barcelona vs Almeria Pictures 25/10/08

FC Barcelona Player rating against Almeria 25/10/08

Valdes - 7 - Had nothing much to do for most part of the match. In the 28th and last minute of thematch he pulled off two good save to keep a deserving clean sheet.

Alves - 8 - He himself have said that it took some time for him to settle in the team. Today's performance was a testimony to the fact that he has already settled in the team. Did well as usual while going forward; in contrast to other matches did equally well while defending. Capped a great performance with a goal.

Marquez - 7 - Like Valdes had nothing much to do. Failed to deal with a ball in the 28th minute, luckily for him Valdes saved him. Apart from that blemish controlled the defnse well.

Puyol - 7.5 - Like his conter-part had nothing to do. Occasionally went forward and now there is a confidence in him while going forward. Marshalled his boys well.

Abidal - 8 - Terrific match for this french national. Two match before he looked like a disaster in waiting; but now he is showing the glimpses of why he was so highly rated and brought by Rijkaard. Wone almost all his challenges and was great to see him covering his centre-backs with ease.


Xavi - 8 - General of midfield. This has become a habit for him to churn out great performance. Unselfishly squared the ball to eto for the third goal.

Toure - 8.5 - Great game for this Ivory Coast palyer. Is returning to his last season form. Created the first goal with a great pass. Won almost all the challenges. He is indeed the assurance Messi, Iniesta and co requires while going forward.

Iniesta - 9 - What a match for this gentleman. When it looked like he is well settled in the front left role he churns out another terrific performance in middle. Guardiola would be worried now to decide where to use him. Was involved in all the FC Barcelona move. Which fool prepared the Ballon D'Or nomination list?

Messi - 8 - Great match again for this Argentinian wonder kid. He may not have been at his best today, but a half good Messi is enough to create two goals.

Eto - 8.5 - Almost all his goals were easy tappin after others have done the hard work. But to his credit he cooly converted all of them. Great presence infornt of the goal.

Henry - 7 - Wasn't that great. But showed that he can complement his other team mates. Even if Iniesta drops to midfield I have genuine doubt whether he will keep the postion especiall with Hleb trying so hard.

Substitutes:

Hleb, Bojan and Sanchez - 6.5 - The game has cooled off befor they came. only Hleb did make some small impact.

Man of the Match - Andres Iniesta

Five Star Barca; FC Barcelona-5, Almeria-0

FC Barcelona continued their winning streak to nine matches in all competitions and Valdes extended the clean sheet record for the third match in a row. Almeria would have been thankful to FC Barcelona players to take the foot off the pedal in the second half, otherwise it would have been resulted in their worst defeat in the league. Ironically their worst defeat came against the same opponenents. FC Barcelona scored five goals past the Almerian defense within 36 minutes of the game and that would have send shrivers through Europe. FC Barcelona would be the first team in everyones mind now to avoid in the knowckout stage of Champions League. The Almerian defense didn't do any big mistake; but FC barcelona boys tore them apart in one of the most enjoyed first half of this season. Guardiola decided to drop Iniesta to midfield and that mean the trio of Messi, Eto and Henry formed the forwards. Iniesta joined hands with Xavi and Toure in the midfield. Alves, Abidal, Puyol and Marquez formed the defense ahead of Valdes. This is an indication of the best FC Barcelona line-up for the rest of season.

The game started in frantic pace. Almeria's Crosat headed wide in the 2nd minute to set up the pace of the game. In the 4th minute Xavi's shot was saved by Goal keeper Alves. But from the resulting corner Eto put Barca one up. Messi too k the corner which indeed was a poor one and ended with Toure outside the box. Toure produced a master ball towards spotting an excellent run from Iniesta, frantic defending saw the ball been headed but staright to the path of Eto who finished it with ease. In the 10th minute Alves who was working tirelessly send a cross from the left wing to find Henry, but defense cleared in time. Then in the 13th minute Henry got into the scoresheet with a wonderful assist from Messi. Messi played a great ball to Iniesta whose run took him into a very tight angle; Iniesta played the ball back to the centre but towards defense; but they cleared it on to the path of Messi who crossed it to Henry who was at the far post and had the simplest of tapping to do. In the 16th minute Messi sets up on his trade mark run dribbling past defenders but his shot went wide of far post. In the 18th minute Barca was almost caught out when Alves has to clear out the danger with a header. In the 19th minute it was Eto's shot to test the Goal keeper again but he shot at straight at Alves after the defense cleared the ball staright to him. Then in the 21st minute FC barcelona made the scoreline 3-0 with Eto's second goal of the night. Iniestafound Xavi's run with a great through pass; Xavi unselfishly squares it to Eto who had another simple tapping. In the 24th minute Eto compleetd his hat-trick with another simple tapping after Messi had done all the hard work. Messi dribbled in to the box from the left and used the dfenders body well to get past him; he the squared the ball to Eto who finished off with a good back heel. In the 28th minute Victor Valdes pulled of a great save to deny Crosat. In the 30th minute Negredo was send off after a rash challenge on Marquez. Down to ten men it was always tough for Almeria to defend and Alves made it more pathetic with a goal scored of the free kick in the 37th minute from 30 yards out. 

In the second half FC Barcelona took the pedal completely off the foot but made sure that they dominated the possesion. In the 50th minute Henry made space for himself with a great touch from a Abidal pass but shot high. He did all the tough work there with simple ease. Guardiola tried to bring back the pace with bringing Hleb in  for toure, Bojan in for Henry and Victor Sanchez in for Alves. But nothing seemed to have worked and the players seemed to have cooled off. In the 86th minute Eto was denied by the Goal Keeper from a great cross from Puyol. In the 90th minute Valdes had to make a goo save from mane's effort to make sure that he retains the clean sheet. Whatever FC barcelona played like champions in the first half and you cannot blame them for taking the foot off the pedal in the second half. Henry would have been one person who would have been greatly impressed by Iniesta's performance in the middle. Toure was majestic throughout the match, so did Abidal.