Lionel Messi(Barca) - 2, Granada - 1; Lionel Messi inspires Barca to yet another Victory

• Barca secures three points in a come back from behind victory against Granada
• Lionel Messi scored twice, the second from an excellent free kick worth a watch.

Ok, this is the story of this match. In the absence of Xavi and Iniesta, Messi decided to play the play-maker role in the first half. He was doing brilliantly in that, but Alexis & co. were finding innovative ways to waste simple chances. So come the break, he decided to take the scoring task also on him - scored the equaliser in a tru centre forward fashion and scored the winner with a exquisite free kick, which left teh Granada keeper tranquilized. End of the story. In winning us the match Messi achieved yet another milestone(something he is doing so regularly, that people don't care for much) - he has scored 301 goal for Barca with this twin strike. Looking forward to the visit to Milan a number of players started from bench. The defense had Alves, Pique, Mascherano and Adriano. The midfield as expected was made of Thiago, Fabregas and Busquets. Pedro, Messi and Sanchez made the front line.

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Barca vs Granada Preview

FC Barcelona will be entering a hectic tight packed schedule with the scheduled visit to Granada in the league this Saturday. First it will be a visit to Granada followed by a visit to Milan, then hosting Sevilla at home and after that the much anticipated double header with fierce rival - Real Madrid(first in the Copa and then in the league). Considering the tough matches coming ahead, everyone could expect the likes of Messi, Iniesta etc being rested for the visit to Andalusia. But I doubt so, at least in the case of Liuonel Messi. Messi has been scoring goals for fun this season, and an absence from one match is not going to hurt him. But this one he is not going to be rested, or atleast he will not allow the Manager to do that. Lionel Messi has scored against all La Liga opponents other than Granada, Sevilla and Celta this season. So that's a heck of a motivation for him to play. Consider to the other opponents whom we have to face very soon, Granada appears to be a much easier task. But the Real Madrid also thought the same two weeks back, Granada - 1, Madrid - 0 and paid the price.

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Barca -1 , Real Madrid - 1

The first Clasico of 2013 ended in a 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernebeu in the first leg of Cop Del rey. Early in the first half Cesc put us ahead at the start of second half but Varane equalised for Madrid with ten minutes left on the clock. We do go into the second leg at home with an advantage of an away goal. But we would have loved to take the win. We did really have some serious chances but failed to take any. In the end a 1-1 is a fair result as both teams fluffed a host of chances to score in a fast paced encounter.Jordi Roura went with a very much expected line-up with Pinto, Alves, Pique, Puyol, Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Cesc, Pedro, Messi and Iniesta. Valdes, Mascherano, Adriano, Soong, Thiago, Alexis and Villa started in the bench. Real Madrid had Diego LLopez, Essien, Varane, Carvalho, Arbeloa, Xabi Alonso, Ozil, Khedira, Callejon, Benzema and Ronaldo. in the starting eleven.

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