Riding on the form of Messi and Eto'o, Barcelona eased away the challenge posed by Valencia at the Mestalla. With this victory Barcelona somehow ended their winless away streak. This is only the second away win of the season and with Madrid match round the corner, Rijkaard could not have asked for more. The only blemish in a surprisingly brilliant Barca was the injury to Messi, which will keep him out for close to five weeks.
Eto did waste a wonderful ball from Messi in the early stage of the match, but that could be count as the only blemish in his awesome performance. When Messi supplied the ball for the first goal, even the most optimistic supporter of Barca would not have imagined a chance of Goal. I only expected him to strike it with utmost power from that angle. Then he is Samuel Eto, he created the Goal from nowhere. What a marvelous piece of skill. The second Goal was a usual Barca move which saw Messi and Iniesta adding swiftness to the move and Eto finishing it in his classic style. If it was not for the legendary Canizares Barcelona would have destroyed Valencia by a huge margin.
Even the fiercest supporter of Barca will agree on one thing- the lack of quality displayed by this unbelievably talented Valencia side. Only for a ten minute duration at the start of second half, they were never in the match. Even if he take into consideration the number of injured players, Valencia indeed should have done better. Barcelona never is the same threat when traveling away, but Valencia players simply disappointed. And how can I forget to mention the unselfishness shown by a young Giovani Dos Santos. He could have gone at the goal by himself, nobody would have complained but he chose to be different.
I have to admit that I like the two tactics employed by Rijkaard. First is playing Gudjonsen in midfield. That gives that extra attacker and a sense of unpredictability about the team. The second is the way he is protecting Ronaldinho from away match. Anyone who has watched Ronnie this season will agree that Ronnie plays like a King in Camp Nou and like a pauper away from the same. Since he is not firing in away matches and with the amount of players available, its make sense to use him in home matches more than away matches. this will help him bring back the confidence and he should be back to his normal best soon than later.
Messi injury overshadow the El Classico this week, but we still can beat Madrid as we played majestically at home through out this season. I expect Ronnie to start this season and expect him to combine with Eto to produce a marvelous match.
Below is the three goals of the match