Five Star Messi Takes FC Barcelona to UCL Quarter Final; FC Barcelona - 7, Bayern Leverkusen - 1

FC Barcelona simply blew off Leverkusen at a brilliant night at the Camp Nou. The 7-1 victory has to be a stern message to all our challengers in Europe this season. With a 3-1 away lead we were almost there in the quarter final. But following last night's Arsenal's comeback against Milan, there were some nerves. But the team simply blasted those. In the end we won 10-2 on aggregate. It was a record breaking night. Lionel Messi who was rested in the weekend cam roaring scoring five in the night. Tello who made his debut scored twice to complete the 7-1 scoreline. This is Barca's biggest victory in UEFA Champions League. Messi became the first player to score five goals in a single Champions League match. He right now has 12 goals from 7 matches in this Champions League, equalling his last season tally. Puyol and Abidal were ruled out for the match. So we had Adriano, Mascherano, Pique and Alves in defense. Busquets, Iniesta and Xavi made the midfield. The front trio were Pedro, Messi and Fabregas. Leverkusen was coming into teh match on the back of a splendid victory against Bayern Munich. So it promised to be an interesting battle.

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FC Barcelona - 3 : 1 - Sporting Gijon Highlights

FC Barcelona - 3, Sporting Gijon - 1

FC Barcelona managed to reduce the lead on top of the table to seven points with a brilliant 3-1 victory against Sporting Gijon. For a Barca fan it was a memorable victory as we had to play the entire second half with ten man following Pique's expilsion. Iniesta gave us the lead in the first half, Gijon equalised after Pique's send off but Keita restored the lead with a magical goal and Xavi completed the scoreline. With Busquets and Messi suspended and Abidal injured, Guardiola had to re-shuffle a bit. The defense had Adriano, Mascherano, Pique and Alves. Keita played the holding midfielder role flanked by Iniesta and Xavi on either side. The front trio were Cuenca, Fabregas and Pedro.

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FC Barcelona - 5 : 1 - Valencia Highlights

Liga - 24ème journée FC Barcelone 5 - 1 Valence CT by warrant

FC Barcelona - 4, Valencia - 1

FC Barcelona cut the lead at the top back to ten points with a brilliant 5-1 win against Valencia. Unai Emery's side has always made Barca struggle, but this was completely different. Even though it didn't start well conceding a goal early, but after that it was total domination. We had 27 shots off 13 were at goal. It took some casual finishing and some brilliant Alves goal keeping to keep the scoreline at 5-1. Pablo Piatti scored Valencia's first, we responded through Messi scoring four and Xavi scoring one in the injury time. It looked like the players were simply tired off the tough matches against Valencia and decided to end it with a brilliant performance. We started the match 13 points behind Real Madrid and Valencia was eight point behind us. Both Mascherano and Alves were suspended for this encounter. The line-up selected by Guardiola for the encounter was Valdes, Montoya, Pique, Puyol, Abidal, Busquets, Iniesta, Fabregas, Messi, Sanchez and Pedro.

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