FC Barcelona Strolled in to an easy victory against Racing
FC Barcelona started the second half of the season in the perfect style winning 3-0 against Racing Santander at the Camp Nou. This is FC Barcelona's 14th consecutive League victory equalling the record held by Rijkaard's Barcelona 2005-06 team. Pedro opened the scoring pretty early on the match, Messi and Iniesta completed the scoreline. Maxwell, Puyol, Abidal and Adriano made the back four. The midfield had the usual look of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets. The front three was the usual Messi, Villa and Pedro.
It just took only a minute for us to go upfront. Pedro was the scorer. Messi and Villa palyed a great one - two and then Messi send in a chipped cross into centre, where Pedro had to do absolutely nothing. In the 10th minute Lionel Messi played Villa in on the left, but the Spanish striker could only shoot wide. In the 16th minute Racing striker Rosenberg had Valdes stretching to save a good shot after cutting inside Puyol. In the 28th minute there was total madness in Racing box. How on earth we didn't score is still baffles me. Messi, Puyol and Adriano all had shots which were saved somehow. In the 30th minute Messi send in Adriano through with a great pass but the keeper came out to block the shot. In the 32nd minute a great run inside the box won Barca a penalty kick, which Messi converted with ease. In the 41st minute the keeper dived well to save a Messi free kick. It was a great kick; it started curving from 2 metres outside of the post and was well in its way in. We should encourage Messi to take more and more free kicks. In the 44th minute Villa shot wide after being forced wide by the keeper and defense. The half ended with Valde pulling out a one handed save after an aerial ball exposed our defense.
Guardiola took off Puyol and brought in Pique at the start of second half. Racing santander came out more determined and we had a moment or two of some discomfort in the early exchanges. In the 56th minute Iniesta got onto teh score sheet taking the lead to 3-0 up. Villa played the ball from the left, Pedro played a beautiful back heel to Iniesta whose shot took a big deflection on to its way to back of net. That is Iniesta's seventh goal of the season, his highest in a single season. In the 68th minute Guardiola replaced xavi with keita. That was a very good decision considering his recent injury issues. In the 72nd minute Iniesta palyed a through ball to Villa but once again the keeper made the save. In the 79th minute Iniesta olayed a great ball to Maxwell whose croo into the centre unfortunately couldn't find anyone. In the 81st minute Bojan came in for Pedro.
We seriously never had to work hard for this victory. The early goal sealed the match for us and it was just the matter of by how many. If it wasn't for the Racing Santander's keeperTono, the scoreline could have been really embarrasing. Racing did expose us a couple of times with the aerial balls but Valdes was up to the challenge. Iniesta once again had an excellent night involving in every move. Villa should consider himself unlucky not to have got in to the score sheet. But he was very much involved in all moves. And that is a very good news. Every other player played their part to perfection. Messi is right now enjoying his play maker role to the fullest. Abidal once again impressed in the central defender role but he should not be moved out of the left side in crucial matches. We have moved seven points clear off Real Madrid now. Real has a chance to reduce it back to four but the pressure has to be enormous.