FC Barcelona took a firm step towards retaining their La Liga crown with a comfortable 3-0 victory over visiting Deportivo La Coruna side. First half goal from Bojan and two second half strikes from Pedro and Toure helped Barca increase their lead on top to six points. Real Madrid who play tonight could cut that lead back to three. Guardiola went with the 4-2-3-1 formation for this encounter. The defense had Alves, Marquez, Pique and Maxwell infront of Valdes. Xavi and Toure paired infront of the defense and infront of them Jeffren, Messi and Pedro lined up. Bojan remained ahead of Messi as a sole striker. Sometimes I feel keeping Xavi so far behind the pitch would hamper his effectiveness, but the little maestro is proving me again and again.FC Barcelona controls the game from the begining
As expected FC Barcelona started controlling the game from the begining. Pedro had the fist shot on target in the ninth minute when Alves chested down a cross into his path, Pedro's first touch was good but the final shot hit the post. Barca deservingly took the lead in the 16th minute through Bojan. Jeffren played the ball to Xavi who played a delightful ball to Bojan who slid the ball past a advancing goal keeper. In the 19th minute Messi set up Jeffren but his shot was well saved by Deportivo custodian Aranzubia. Messi saw a couple of shot saved by the goal keeper, one of which was an audacious chip. Alves saw his spectacular bicycle kick hit the post. It was all one way traffic but with no more goals. In the second half we came out with the same intensity. In the 69th minute Valdes sent in a long kick spotting Alves's run, Aranzubia was forced to come out and clear the ball but the clearence went straight to Pedro who send in a great shot from 40 yards out into the goal. In the 72nd minute Toure made it 3-0 when he controled a corner on the far post with his chest and then sent in a great shot into the net.
After the tough encounter at Bernabeu, it was good to see such intensity on the field. The whole team performed really well. It was good to see a attacking line-up which had an average age of 21. Bojan's finish showed his confidence and demands more time from his manager in future. Messi was once again involved in majority of attacks. Xavi was true to his usual self. It was good to see Toure playing so dominantly giving the little men infront of him all the comfort.