A well-deserved win

A well-deserved win

Barça beat Celta with goals from Saviola, Ronaldinho and Giuly. The blaugrana put in a solid performance in all areas, demonstrating a higher level potency.

They had to sweat, to concentrate and to work hard in all areas of the pitch in order to achieve victory, as Frank Rijkaard had predicted. The blaugrana won a deserved victory demonstrating strong character and personality against won of the best performing teams away from home. Saviola, who is knocking in the goals, started off the proceedings, Ronaldinho from the spot and Giuly did the damage necessary following Nene's equalizer. Barça start the second round of the league as leaders, while sending out a message to their closest rivals that beating them will not be an easy task.

Patience

The fans greeted the team with a rapturous applause dispelling any doubts that the relationship between them had soured. Barça wanted to respond early to the support and despite the team from Galicia's ability to make space and create danger, Barça dominated the play with patient build up play.
Edmilson and Deco worked tirelessly in the midfield. Calm, intelligent play made room for Edmilson and Xavi to try their luck from distance, causing Pinto to palm the ball out for a corner.

The prize

Despite Barça being in control, they could not let up for a second as Celta could create danger at any time. In order to help cancel out the danger, Zambrotta did an excellent job keeping Nene quiet, while Puyol and Oleguer shared their responsibility of Fernando Baiano.
In attack, Iniesta added extra weight and Saviola caused the Celta defence endless problems. The opening goal came in the 34th minute following great combination work between Ronaldinho and Gio down the left flank, the Dutchman sending in a great cross which met with Saviolas head well to put the league leaders ahead. Saviola was full of confidence, which caused Celta to rethink their strategy.

Strength

Barça were the only team who were able to move the ball around with fluidity. This show of control and strength began to create chances such as a long shot from Deco which made Pinto work hard. Saviola continued to pose a threat and a second goal from Barça seemed more likely that the equalizer. However, in the 66th minute, the referee pointed to the spot following a collision involving Oleguer and Gio, Nene converting to bring the scores level.
Celta got the equalizer with their first real effort on goal. This, however, provoked a reaction from the blaugrana. Rijkaard brought on Giuly for Edmilson in search of greater speed in attack and Barça went up a gear in search of goal.

Increased rhythm

In the 70th, Saviola had two chances to put the team ahead, however, the teams extra efforts were to pay off a few minutes later when the referee again pointed to the spot following a foul by Tamas on Gio. Ronaldinho neatly converted, unstoppably blasting the ball past the right of the keeper. The goal increased the rhythm of the game even more. Barça, however, escaped a scare in the 81st minute when Nunez had the chance to tie the game. Luckily Valdes was alert to deny him. The goal which buried the game came a few minutes later. A neat pass from Deco sent Giuly racing in attack from his own half, where he found himself in a one on one situation with the keeper. Giuly cleverly beat Pinto and took the game out of reach of the visitors. A hard worked and well-deserved victory allows Barça to continue for another week as league leaders.