FC Barcelona took full advantage of Real Madrid slip
FC Barcelona won their 17th consecutive win of the season with a 4-1 demolition of Malaga at the Camp Nou. By doing so we have now moved four points clear of our arch-rival Real Madrid. Iniesta opened the scoring followed by Villa, Pedro and again Villa to complete the tally. With a four point lead Real Madrid needs help from some of their Liga rivals if they wish to catch Barca this season. But again that very much depend on us. We went into the game knowing that real Madrid has been held to a draw by bottom placed Almeria and it was a clear chance to increase the lead on top to four points. Guarddiola lined up with Puyol, Pique, Alves and Abidal. The midfield had Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets. Messi, Pedro and Villa formed the front trio.
There were serious purpose in our playe from the begining. In the 4th minute Abidal shot wide of the goal, there was a good chance to find Messi in middle but he decided to take the shot. In the 8th minute Iniesta put us in the lead with a tremendous finish from the edge of the box. In the 15th minute Messi played a brilliant balk to Pedro on right but the keeper acrobaticall kept his shot out. In the 17th minute Xavi saw his shot come back off the bar. In the 18th minute David Villa made it 2-0. Busquets won the ball with a sliding tackle and the ball reached Messi who played a wonderful pass to Villa who made no mistake finishing it through keeper's leg. In 26th minute Alves was taken off and it kind of looked like an harmstring problem. That could be a big problem for us in the rest of season. In the 36th minute Pedro scored Barca's thrid of teh night. Once again Messi was the provider; Messi sent in a great ball to Iniesta putting him through on goal, Asenjo blocks Iniesta's effort but Pedro was there to slot home from the rebound. In the 42nd minute Asenjo denied Lionel Messi off his goal with a great save. The first half ended with a sense of anticipation for more goals as Messi was frantically searching to get his name on the list.
We took the foot off the pedal in the second half. In the 68th minute Duda scored for Barca from a free kick from outside of the box. We were in kind of a slumber and the crowd was singing passionately to wake them up. In the 74th minute a brilliant run from Pedro inside the box failed to find Busquets. But the very next minute Villa made it 4-1, after latching on to a good ball from Xavi. In the 81st minute Guardiola made the double chnage of Bojan and Afellay for Pedro and Iniesta. In the 90th minute Bojan wasted a good chance after some great work by Afellay on the left.
With Real Madrid failing to win our boys took that chance with both hands. the only blemish tonight was Messi's name missing from the score sheet. He could have increased his standing in Pichichi standing. The four point lead will quadrapule the pressure on Mourinho's boys and that is a very good news for us. We may have not been that sharp in the second half, but it was understandable as we went 3-0 up by the half time. Malaga's tactics at times looked like taking our players down. But we managed to get over their really bad intension. In doing so we have conjured some records of our own. We have now been undefeated in the last 28 matches. We have secured the maximum point by a team at the half way mark of the league. As far as the performance is concerned, Iniesta for me was the MOTM. Villa and Messi played really well, the latter looked a bit frustrated due to lack of goals. Xavi and Busquets were solid as usual and Puyol, our gladiator had a great night. Afellay in the ten minutes he got made a good impression and showed clearly that he was a smart buy. The only problem was the injury to Alves and we have to wait to know how bad it is.