With non football events grabbing all the headlines this week, it was time for the action on ground to take centre stage. And it did, with a 5-0 thrashing of Real Soceidad we have moved back to the top of La Liga. Two goals from Messi and one each from Villa, Iniesta and Bojan rounded off a confident and comfortable victory for Barca. Guardiola decided not to risk Pique as he was still on four yellow card and one more will see him miss the derby. So Abidal partnered Puyol in trhe centre of defense with Maxwell and Alves performing full back duties. Mascherano, Iniesta and Xavi made the midfield. Pedro, Villa and Messi made the attacking trio.
This game was a complete mismatch from the begining. We took the control from the word go and never looked back. We went ahead in the 9th minute when David Villa latched on to a great pass from pedro on right. In the 21st minute Pedro saw his shot deflected wide from a nice cut back from Iniesta. In the 29th minute we had total mayhem in Real Soceidad box. There was a series of shot with Messi, Xavi, Villa all shooting but the best was Dani Alves somehow managing to put the ball wide with the goal wide open. In the 32nd minute Iniesta made it 2-0 when he beat Bravo on his near post after playing a good one two with Pedro. In the 39th minute Messi cuts inside after receiving the pass from the left but shot wide. He looked very desperate to score tonight. Real Sociedad managed to go into break without anymore damage.
Lionel Messi got his goal just one minute after the break. The goal killed off the match. It was a delight, Messi played three one - two with Dani Alves before slotting the ball past a hapless Bravo. In the 52nd minute Busquets replaced Mascherano; that looked like a strange decision. In the 61st minute Pedro was replaced by Bojan. In the 66th minute Messi send in a great chip pass to Iniesta inside the box, Iniesta was brought down but the ball went to Villa who couldn't find the angle to get the shot right. Next minute Guardiola took off Xavi and brought in Keita, that seemed like a very good choice. In the 70th minute Raul Tamudo, the ex-Espanyol player was introduced and was immediately received by huge boos. That simply looked like a bit thuggish. In the 78th minute Messi dances in the box, teh first shot hit the defender but the ball gets back to him, his second shot was denied by the post. In the 87th minute Lionel Messi scored yet another wonder goal. Keita won the ball outside the box and passed to Bojan who passed to Messi; he cuts inside then went in a horizontal run inside the box dummying shot across five defenders. He started the move on left side of post and finished the move on right side off post with a beautiful finish. In the first minute into the stoppage time Bojan made it 5-0. His first shot was saved by the keeper but the rebound fell back to him and he finished off easily.
We went into this match knowing clearly that Real Madrid has moved into the top of table. So we needed to respond well and we did that really well. Abidal who played as a centre back was for me once again the best player on the pitch. he looked so confident nowadays and is definitely making a huge difference to the defensive performance this season. Messi once again stole th show with two goals and was involved throughout. David Villa had a good game till the third goal. After the third goal we took the foot off the pedal. Bojan should be happy with his goal. Pedro was brilliant throughout the match so was Iniesta. Overall this was one job really well done.