Barça back to their best (2-0)

Barça back to their best (2-0)

Barca were back to their best tonight at the Nou Camp as they saw off Bilbao with first half goals from Sergio Busquets and Messi, before putting on a thrilling attacking second half performance.
An effective first half and a sublime second was enough to see off Bilbao, whose resistance lasted just half an hour before Guardiola’s men steamrolled them over. Sergio Busquets’ and Messi’s goals came just as the game was at its most evenly balanced, but once the second half got underway the scales were very firmly tipped in Barca’s favour and but for some really bad luck, Barca’s front men would surely have got a hatful. So despite the relatively narrow margin of victory, Barca can take a host of positive conclusions from the game as they recovered their trademark attacking style, created endless chances, kept another clean sheet and with Madrid being held 1.1 by Atletico at the Santiago Bernabeu, they also stretched their lead at the top to six points. The only negative point for Barca was Puyol’s late injury which saw him carried off in some pain.

Yeste let off

It was a relatively quiet start to the game, with Bilbao happy to sit back behind the ball and concede possession to Barca, whilst pinning their hopes on their quick counter punches. It was one such attack after a quarter of an hour that nearly paid dividends when Yeste found himself clear on Valdes only to blast his effort wide. Bilbao had had their chance and they hadn’t taken it. Now Barca were going to make them pay.

Barca in charge

Just a minute later, Guardiola’s team were one up. A free kick from the left of the box by Xavi was met perfectly at the near post by Busquets who beat Gurpegi to the punch and headed home. In just one minute Barca had turned the tables and gone from a possible 0-1 down to being one up themselves. The goal opened the door for Barca to dominate the game even more and Iniesta in particular began to come into his own. It was the Spanish midfielder who brought about Barca’s second as he was brought down in the box for a clear penalty that Messi transformed coolly sending Gorka the wrong way. At 2-0 up, Barca were cruising, but the spark wasn’t quite there – that was to come after the break. Spectacular restart

Barca came out of the blocks like a whirlwind for the second half and in an astonishing 20 minutes of attacking play Eto’o on four occasions, Iniesta, Henry and Pique could have made it 3-0, but two posts, a goal line clearance by Iraola and some great keeping from Iraizoz somehow kept Barca out.

Iniesta gets standing ovation

It was all being orchestrated by Andrés Iniesta who was popping up all over the park and beating players at will as he set up his forwards time and time again and when he was taken off by Guardiola on 78 minutes the Nou Camp crowd gave him a fully deserved standing ovation. That wasn’t the end of Barca’s attacking though and their bad luck also continued as Eto’o once more hit the woodwork. It wasn’t the Cameroon striker’s night and nor was it Puyol’s who was carried off with what looked to be an ankle injury towards the end of the game, but for the team as a whole it was a welcome return to form and a reaffirmation of their league leadership.