The same old goal spree (4-1)

The same old goal spree (4-1)

Barça took 3 points tonight from Numància, the only team to have beaten them in the league, with yet another goal spree. Messi (2), Henry and Eto’o were the scorers, and Barça start the 2ond stage of the league as they ended the first: scoring goals.
On a cold windy night, the first half was frustrating for Barça, who seemed to be the only team playing for a win. The blaugranes seemed to be up against a solid defence, and Numáncia were looking to repeat the result in Los Pajaritos. But their dream became shattered early on in the second half when Messi and Eto’o quickly made it 2-0 With the scoreline against them, Numancia launched themselves into attack, and they managed to reduce the gap with a goal from Barkero. But they soon paid the price, with Barça enjoying so much resulting space up front, Henry and Messi got two more. With Barça getting three points from every game, they now have 53, fifteen more than Real Madrid and Sevilla, who play on Sunday.

Against an 11-man defence

Numancia played tonight’s game differently to back in August. Kresic chose an ultra-defensive 4-1-4-1, with all players in their own half, and Barça mounted attack after attack but were unable to find space. Barça were lacking in a certain pace to crack the defence, and when Gorinsa had a goal disallowed ion the 17th minute, they found it.

Constant attack.

From then on in, we saw a more familiar Barça. Efforts from Xavi (min 21) Piqué (min 26) and a shot each from Messi, Xavi and Touré (min 33) all came close to cracking the shell. Iniesta had a long shot from midfield well-saved by Juan Pablo. Boris, Ortega and Palacios were also consistent in blocking Barça, and the first half ended with Numáncia’s wall being unbroken.

The game opens up

Barça responded quickly from the start of the second half. In the 49th minute, Iniesta took the game over to the right, where Alves picked it up and dribbled into the area, passing to Messi who subtly touched the ball into the net. Three minutes later Eto’o made it 2-0 thanks to yet another pass from Iniesta. The defensive wall now seemed made of paper.

Exchange of blows

Wit nothing to lose, Numancia now pushed forward and were rewarded with a goal from a free-kick by Barkero in the 60th minute. Barça didn’t like letting in a goal, and they turned the pace up with Messi making two more great moves. First Henry scored thanks to a Messi pass across the area, then Messi himself dribbled two players in the centre of the penalty area and then after a deflected save, he slotted the ball home to make it 4-1.

More Messi

But that wasn’t all, it looked like Barça were going to widen the gap even more. Messi nearly got two more through individual moves, and Numáncia spent the final minutes with only ten men after Palacios had been sent off.