Pep Guardiola's men managed to claim the three points tonight as they disposed of league leaders Valencia on a fine night in Barcelona. Pablo Hernandez stunned Camp Nou with a goal in the first half to give the visitors a shocking lead before half-time, but Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol responded after the break to help the Catalans to victory.Los Che started the game on the front foot and even managed to beat Barcelona for possession in front of a fully packed Camp Nou in the first thirty minutes. The Blaugrana had a few half chances through Xavi and David Villa, but they did not prove to be a sign of things to come from the hosts.
Valencia were growing in confidence and looked to exploit the space left by the rather negligent and frustrated Barcelona. The opener eventually came in the 38th minute when Pablo Hernandez converted a cross from Jeremy Mathieu in the centre of the box to give Los Che a deserved lead.
Two minutes later it was Pablo Hernandez again who was denied a certain goal by a wonderful intervention by Victor Valdes. Lionel Messi had a chance to claw one back in the last minutes of the first half, but his shot from inside the penalty area was parried by Cesar for what proved to be the final moment of interest before the break.
Barcelona were quickest out of the blocks after half-time and stormed back into the game through Andres Iniesta who coolly finished past Cesar after a delightful one-two just two minutes into the second half.
The goal certainly injected much needed optimism and urge in Barca's game as they were slowly starting to look like the juggernaut were are used to see. Cesar pulled off a miraculous save in the 59th minute when he somehow managed to block a bullet of a header from David Villa near his right post.
It did not take long for Barcelona to go ahead and four minutes later Carles Puyol headed a cross from Xavi into the net to score a goal reminiscent of his strike against Germany at the World Cup. Moments later David Villa missed a complete sitter after being released through on goal by Andres Iniesta.
It was all Barcelona from there on, but the Catalans could not round off the game with a third goal. Pedro Rodriguez missed a sitter in injury time and Lionel Messi had a goal disallowed second later as the game finished 2-1.
Following today's result Los Cules are joint top of La Liga together with Valencia before the remaining games from this round. Barcelona visit Real Zaragoza in eight days, while Los Che host Mallorca on the same day.
0 komentar:
Post a Comment