Racing Santander (1) vs Barca (4) Highlight

Rampant Barca at Santander; Racing - 1, Barca -4

FC Barcelona continued their excellent run in the league with a 4-1 demolition of Racing Santander at El Sardinero stadium. Two goals from Messi and one each from Ibrahmovic and Pique was enough to see Barca comfortably past Racing. Like the weekend it was a sensational first half display which put Barca in command. Now Barca has moved three points clear and the pressure will be surely on Madrid to respond against Villareal. Ibrahmovic scored his fourth goal in the league from that many matches. It was by far the best performance by the Swedish superstar and incidently it was also the best performance by Barca till now. Messi is keeping on improving and is surprising everyone with each match. I expected Guardiola to rest Messi for this match but that wasn't to be happened. Guardiola brought in Puyol and Abidal in the defense. Thus Alves, Pique, Puyol and Abidal formed the defense. The midfield was made up of Xavi, Kieta and Busquets. Messi, Ibrahmociv and Henry formed the forward line-up. Keita has been a vast improvement to the last season and now looks like an attacking option in the midfield.

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Racing Santander - Barca Preview

Ok, there are some serious good news - not like all the news till now was bad. But this one sounds so good - Milito is back in training. There is no date set for his return but still it is good to hear that we may be able to count on his service maybe in the latter part of the season. And that is a very good news to the build up of the Racing clash. There are reports that Pep may be tempted to rest Messi at the El Sardinero, but most probably he would only start him from the bench. Last season also Messi started on the bench here and came on to help Barca win that encounter. It is also not clear whether Iniesta will get a much awaited start; Pep seems to be in no hurry to rush "San Andres" and there is a high chance he will again see action only after the break. Pep Guardiola has announced a 19 man squad for the visit to Santander - Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Puyol, Piqué, Marquez, Chygrynskiy, Maxwell, Abidal, Busquets, Toure Yaya, Xavi, Keita, Iniesta, Pedro, Messi, Ibrahimovic, Henry, Jeffren. Pep will be looking to rest his major players tonight because of the tight schedule ahead of them. Puyol, Abidal and Toure who were rested in the last match is definite to get their start, meanwhile Pique is destined to get a well deserved rest.

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