FC Barcelona News
Hat-trick for Record Breaker Messi
March 21st, 2012Lionel Messi is Barcelona’s record goal-scorer, after FC Barcelona were made to work for a 5-3 win at home against Granada on Tuesday night. Messi got three, alongside goals by Xavi and Cristian Tello. Mainz scored a header and Siqueira dispatched two penalties for the visitors.
Barcelona went into this match in superb form, and wasted no time in taking the initiative against their Andalusian visitors. Within three minutes they were one up – the excellent Isaac Cuenca drove to the byline down the left flank and floated in a deep cross. Messi was at the back-post to meet it and smartly headed down for Xavi who was waiting at the edge of the area. He volleyed the ball into the ground and out of the reach of Júlio César in the Granada goal.
Isaac Cuenca played a role in the build up to the second goal, which followed shortly after. This time he dribbled past two Granada defenders down the left wing, before sending in a cross that glanced off the head of a defender and landed at the feet of Messi, whose first-time half-volley was perfectly executed and skimmed into the bottom left-hand corner. The goal also sent Messi level with César as Barcelona’s all-time top scorer.
Ten minutes into the second half, Granada scored a goal from nowhere – they won a free-kick level with the left angle of the penalty area, just in from the touchline. Martins whipped the ball in, and Mainz climbed behind Piqué to nod the ball into the top-corner. Piqué nearly atoned for his lapse in Barça’s next attack, but his header from Xavi’s free-kick was straight at Júlio César.
Barcelona were then caught on the counter down the left, Benítez got goal side of Alves – the defender’s attempts to win the ball were slightly clumsy, bringing Benítez down, and Teixera pointed to the spot. The only doubt was whether the foul occurred inside the area. Siquera stepped up and sent Valdes the wrong way to equalise.
Really it was it was all building to Messi’s big moment. After a spell of end-to-end football, Alves picked out Messi with an exquisite chipped pass, which the forward pulled down before lobbing Júlio César. It was remarkably similar to his first ever goal for the club seven years ago and made him Barcelona’s all time top scorer on 233.
Fantastic interplay between Iniesta and Messi saw the ball fall at Cristian Tello’s feet insider the area. The young forward took a touch before sliding the ball into the bottom right corner to take the score to 4-2.
With five minutes to go Alves played another delightful pass behind for Messi, who brought it under control, rounded Júlio César and clipped it home. At the other end, Alves was harshly adjudged to have intentionally blocked a Benítez cross with his arm, and picked up a second yellow. Siqueira wrong-footed Valdés with a Panenka penalty and the full-time score was 5-3.
1-0 Xavi (min 4)
2-0 Messi (min 16)
2-1 Mainz (min 54)
2-2 Siqueira (min 61)
3-2 Messi (min 66)
4-2 Tello (min 81)
5-2 Messi (min 85)
5-3 Siqueira (min 88)
Barcelona Do Enough in Granada
October 26th, 2011FC Barcelona gained a surprisingly narrow 1-0 victory at Granada on Tuesday night. Xavi Hernández provided the inspiration with a world-class free kick in the first half.
The big surprise before kickoff was the inclusion of youth academy graduate and Barça B star, Isaac Cuenca. The 20 year-old took his place on the left wing, and was joined in attack by Lionel Messi and Pedro Rodríguez. Busquets and Cesc Fàbregas accompanied Xavi in midfield on the night he became Barcelona’s most capped player, and Adriano was replaced by Maxwell at left back.
After a relatively subdued period of early possession the away side slowly started to find its shooting range; Messi worked some room on the right side of the area, beating one defender before curling a shot past the far post. Cuenca then carved a chance of his own, this time cutting in from the left and driving a shot wide from 25 yards.
A few minutes later Dani Alves bustled down the right wing and curled a beautiful cross for Pedro, who glanced a free header just wide. Pep Guardiola’s men have had better halves, but the breakthrough came on 32 minutes, when Xavi was felled about 30 yards from goal by Jaime Romero. The captain stepped up to take the resulting free kick and curled a magnificent strike over the wall and inside the near post.
El Graná were unable to offer much in response, choked in possession by a hardworking Barcelona side who were possibly lacking a little of their usual attacking imagination.
In the second half Barcelona were still a little laboured in their forward play, but were able to maintain possession and keep Granada at bay. The home side came out after the break offering a little more bite in the tackle, and this was epitomised by Siqueira’s foul from behind on Pedro, which put the winger on a stretcher with a nasty looking ankle injury to be replaced by David Villa.
And in the same passage of play Jaime Romero raised his boot against Maxwell, resulting in a second yellow for the midfielder. Moments later Messi was fed by Villa on the edge of the area, and the Argentine forward dinked the ball over Roberto. It looked for all the world a goal, but Diego Mainz scampered back to make a fantastic goal-line clearance.
The next big chance fell to Cuenca, who was put through on the left by Xavi, but denied a debut goal by the onrushing Roberto. The remainder of the match was a relatively scrappy affair – Barcelona continued to lack their customary incision, while Granada struggled to build a move of note. Dani Benítez summed up the evening when he earned a red card by kicking the ball away after getting pulled up for an offside.
Still, Pep Guardiola was able to take pride in a seventh consecutive clean sheet as his side returned to the top of the table for at least 24 hours.
0-1, Xavi (min 33)
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