Sporting Gijon 1 - 6 Barcelona

By far Barça's best performance of the season saw them utterly stun Sporting with a thrilling win at El Molinón...

Barcelona came into the match with just one point from their opening two league matches, and they were desperate to kick start their campaign with a solid victory. There were brief glimpses of class in the 3-1 Champions League victory over Sporting in midweek, giving Pep Guardiola a degree of optimism that his players were beginning to find their stride.

Sporting, despite losing their opening two matches, have been slightly unlucky to do so, and fought valiantly in Seville on La Liga matchday two, before eventually succumbing to a 4-3 defeat.

Sporting started with the divisions’ top scorer Bilic up front on his own, while midfielder Sergio Busquets surprisingly kept his place for the Blaugrana ahead of Bojan. Thierry Henry missed out due to a throat infection, so Eto’o once more spearheaded the attack.

First Half

Barcelona began brightly, with Xavi (2’) bringing out a smart save from Sanchez, with the big keeper saving low at his near post with Eto’o lurking in the vicinity.

Bilic caused Abidal some brief concern early on, while at the other end Messi (12’) carved himself a glimpse of an opportunity, but Sanchez dealt with his effort from twenty yards comfortably.

The home fans then became incensed as Bilic (17’) went down heavily under a challenge from Busquets. Replays show Busquets clearly took the ball, and after some gesturing and eventually hobbling from the field, he unsurprisingly returned moments later moving freely.

To give some idea of the gulf in quality, Barca has spent around 90m Euros this summer, to Gijon’s mere 100,000. But for all the away sides’ early dominance of possession and slick interplay, Sporting did not become unnerved and stuck staunchly to their task of keeping their illustrious opponents at bay.

Then Barca raised the tempo.

Messi began marauding around with his usual menacing nature. He skipped past two defenders in the box but dragged his shot across goal. Still, he was moving through the gears and represented Barcelona’s purposeful opening.

This was highlighted moments later as the Argentinean scooped it wide to Iniesta, who’s beautiful first touch took the ball into his stride, but his shot was deflected inches wide for a corner. As the corner count mounted, it appeared to be a matter of time, and minutes later the deadlock was broken. Iniesta turned Sastre inside out before chipping the ball to a completely unmarked Xavi (27’), who nodded home from eight yards. It was too easy – and no more than Barcelona deserved.

Victor Valdes had become a spectator as the Catalan side camped in the home sides half. They smelled blood, and knew a second goal would end this match as a contest. It wasn’t long in coming. Xavi swung in yet another corner, Puyol leapt to head goalwards, and Eto’o (33’) used all of his striking instincts to nod home from underneath the crossbar. 2-0 after thirty three minutes, and the aforementioned gulf in quality was plain to see. Barca had turned a potentially tricky away fixture into a procession before half time.

Sporting enjoyed a spell of possession before half-time, but only because they were given time to do so by Barcelona. They did briefly rally when Diego Castro went down under a challenge from Marquez, but only a corner was given. Barca regained control, and but for a poor touch by Iniesta (44’) after he was played in by Messi, it would have been three. Half-time and no-one in El Molinon could argue with the scoreline.

Second Half

The second half began as the first had ended - Messi on the move. He skipped down the left, but seeing no support in the centre, jinked inside two, three, four then five defenders before striking a shot which deflected for a corner. Xavi swung the ball in, and the unfortunate Jorge (47’), headed past his own goalkeeper. 3-0 to the Blaugrana.

Game over? It should have been. But only minutes later, Gijon breathed new life into the contest as new signing Maldonado (50’) notched his first goal for the club. Bilic barged the ball into his path, and he slotted past Valdes from ten yards. The home fans went wild, and Barca once again showed their defensive frailties. You felt at this stage that a period of concerted pressure could give Puyol et al some serious problems.

But all hopes were extinguished soon after, as Gerard (56’) lunged in on Messi who had been clear on goal. A straight red card, and Gijon, who struggled to get near Barcelona with their full complement, now had to do it with ten men.

The match was over as a contest, with Gijon reshuffling to cope with the red card, and Barca happy to spray the ball around. Eto’o and Kieta had half chances, before Iniesta and that man Messi produced a picture-book fourth goal. The little Argentinean flicked a delicate pass through the Gijon defence and Iniesta (69’) burst through to dink the ball past the helpless Sanchez. Against ten men or not, some of Barcelona’s play was simply sublime and this was the goal that represented a real return of the understanding and awareness the players had showed so often under Frank Rijkaard.

You had to feel a little sorry for Sporting Gijon, and particularly for their fantastic supporters who continued to cheer on their side even as their opponents struck home goal after goal. They were a true credit to their club. The problem was that the Catalan side were always going to regain their rhythm at some point this season, and it was simply a case of who would be on the receiving end. Tonight, they clicked, and with Lionel Messi in this kind of imperious form, very few defences in the world will get anywhere near him. And five minutes from the end he got the goal his play deserved. Iniesta, who was also excellent tonight, crossed from the left, and the deflection on the cross took the ball into Messi’s(85’) path and he volleyed home from six yards.

But he wasn’t finished yet. Four minutes later Xavi chipped it to the penalty spot and Messi (89’) headed home powerfully. Both he and Barcelona were simply fantastic, and the rest of La Liga should take note of this master-class in attacking football. Barca are back.

REAL SPORTING DE GIJÓN 1-6 FC BARCELONA
0-1 Xavi 26'
0-2 Eto'o 32'
0-3 Jorge (og) 47'
1-3 Maldonado 50'
1-4 Iniesta 69'
1-5 Messi 85'
1-6 Messi 89'

Sporting (4-5-1): Sanchez; Sastre, Camara, Jorge, Canella; Matabuena (Michel 45’), Gerard, Diego Castro, Maldonado (Kike Mateo 62’), Carmello; Bilic (David Barral 58’)

Barcelona (4-3-3): Valdes; Dani Alves, Puyol, Marquez, Abidal; Busquets (Caceres 81’), Xavi, Kieta (Gudjohnsen 71’); Iniesta, Messi, Eto’o (Bojan 68’)

Booked: Camara (7’), Carmelo (40’)

Sent Off: Gerard (56’)

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Barcelona (15th, 0pts) v Racing Santander (10th, 1pt)
20:00 CET - Saturday, September 13, 2008
Camp Nou, Barcelona

Whether the international break was a blessing for Barcelona after their opening day defeat against Numancia or prolonged the inquisition into why they lost will matter little as the team will be expected to start their season this weekend when Racing Santander visit Camp Nou.

Life for the Blaugrana is never without pressure and the fact that they were beaten in Los Parajitos gave the critics and the philosophers of the game time to say everything that they wanted as the World Cup qualifiers took priority almost as soon as the final whistles blew around the country two weeks ago.

Barça had such a convincing pre-season that losing to Numancia was seen as even more of a shock than the fact they lost to a newly-promoted team who had never beaten them before and were only starting out on only their fourth ever campaign in the Spanish top flight.

Pep Guardiola's team of superstars looked bereft of ideas and enthusiasm as they came up against a wall of defenders and once the hosts had taken the lead it rarely looked likely that the Blaugrana were going to reproduce the goal gluts that had been so evident in Scotland and the United States.

Warning signs were there as only days before Barça were beaten by Wisla Kraków, but many chose to ignore that as the visitors in Poland had won the first game by four goals and a lack of inspiration was blamed. That excuse could not be used against Numanica, but luckily for Barcleona both those games now seem like distant history.

Madrid Reverse

Many pundits and fans think that losing the opening game could have been the wake-up call that Guardiola and his players required after receiving so much praise in the build-up and things were certainly eased when Real Madrid were beaten by Deportivo La Coruña later the same evening.

This Saturday however, there will be no excuses should Racing take anything other than a sound beating back to Cantabria with them as the new era that is required to start at the club has to kick into gear in style or risk seeing confidence plummet.

While Racing have had only two players away on international duty, Guardiola has been left with just five first-team players to train and prepare with and has just one training session on Friday evening and one on Saturday morning to prepare his squad.

That should still be enough time given that the length of pre-season was longer than normal and that the club have not lost their opening home league fixture for 20 seasons, with Sevilla being the last side to record a victory in 1987-88.

The new additions have had time to settle in with Seydou Keita, Dani Alves, Gerard Piqué and Martín Cáceres all joining prior to the start of pre-season and Aliaksandr Hleb joining with enough time to play in some of the warm-up matches.

Guardiola accepted the blame for the defeat against Numancia as he stated that most of the players did not pick up his instructions well enough, but there will be little doubt about their roles before the second game.

Racing Times

With the new coach earning nothing but praise from his players, the squad will be keen to take the pressure off the former Barça playmaker and prove that it was their lack of ideas and creativity and not his inability to communicate that hampered them in Los Parajitos.

Changes have been rife at Racing too with coach Marcelino deciding to drop down a division and take over at Real Zaragoza despite leading the Cantabrian outfit into Europe for the first time in their history during his first campaign in charge.

Four players left when their loan deals ran out and six others have gone, although none can be considered to have been keys to the club's success last term. Only Aldo Duscher's departure to Sevilla and, arguably, Jorge López's transfer to Real Zaragoza, won any headlines.

Perhaps one of the best pieces of business that the modest club did do was to sell their star defender, Ezequiel Garay to Real Madrid and then borrow him back for a campaign while they look for his replacement.

The Argentinian centre-back was due to join Barça and only this week accusations about why the deal did not go through have been made publicly by various officials from both sides and makes his arrival at Camp Nou all the more interesting.

RECENT FORM

Barcelona

31/08 A 0-1 Numancia
27/08 A 0-1 Wisla Kraków
16/08 H 2-1 Boca Juniors
13/08 H 4-0 Wisla Kraków
06/08 A 6-2 New York Red Bulls
04/08 A 5-2 Guadalajara

Racing Santander

31/08 H 1-1 Sevilla
24/08 A 2-1 San Fernando
23/08 A 2-1 Xerez
19/08 A 1-1 Eibar
16/08 A 1-2 Osasuna
05/08 A 3-2 Olympiakos

TEAM NEWS

Barcelona

Guardiola has called up 20 players for the game with only Rafa Márquez and Martín Cáceres being left out after their long trips. Albert Jorquera and Gaby Milito are both still out injured. Lionel Messi only returned on Friday morning, but he trained in the evening and stated that he was ready and raring to go.

Squad: Valdés, Pinto, Puyol, Alves, Piqué, Abidal, Sylvinho, Touré Yaya, Busquets, Keita, Gudjohnsen, Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, Víctor Sánchez, Henry, Bojan, Hleb, Eto'o, Messi.

Racing Santander

Juan Ramón López Muñiz named his squad after the team's last training session before they departed for Barcelona on Friday morning and has included 18 players in the trip.

Squad: Toño, Coltorti, Pinillos, Oriol, Marcano, Laucen, Colsa, Gonçalves, Pereira, Munitis, Tchité, Serrano, Cristian, Juanjo, Garay, Luccin, Valera, Edu Bedía.

PREDICTION

The so-called bad luck in front of goal that Guardiola and the players all complained about two weeks ago cannot happen again in this encounter or Barça could be considered to be in a mini-crisis after just a couple of games into the new season. Racing will come to defend, but they are an unknown quantity and that could be factor. With the crowd behind them, although many regulars are away for the bridge weekend, will give the team a lift and it is all set up for them to net a few if they can open their account early on.

Barcelona 4 - 1 Racing Santander

Lucas Brown, Goal.com

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Dimas Delgado is relishing the prospect of making his league debut for Numancia at the weekend against his former club Barcelona in Los Parajitos.

The Catalan midfielder was expected to push for a first team place with the Blaugrana this season, but instead chose to leave the club where he rose through the youth ranks.

Numancia's promise of regular first team football was too difficult to resist and Dimas wants to prove himself because Barça do have a buy-back clause.

On Sunday, he plays in his first official game for the Soria outfit and thinks that coming up against several of his former team-mates in the Barcleona team will make it a special occasion.

"It gives added motivation," he said, before stating that he hopes his former Barça B coach, Pep Guardiola, succeeds at the helm.

"If there someone qualified to coach Barça then that is Pep Guardiola because he knows the club inside out."

Finally, Dimas stated that the visitors will not find it easy at the weekend because Numancia's modest stadium will be full and the fans will create a lot of noise.

"It will be very important for us to achieve a result and Barça may not be comfortable because of the atmosphere that will be created," he added.

Lucas Brown, Goal.com

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Thierry Henry is steeling himself for another campaign stuck out on the left wing for Barcelona.
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The France striker was deployed out of position for much of last season, turning in a number of below-par performances that led to him being jeered by sections of the Barca crowd.

With Pep Guardiola replacing Frank Rijkaard as coach and striker Samuel Eto'o seemingly on his way out of the Nou Camp, Henry would have been hoping for a central role up front for the Spanish giants this coming season.

With Eto'o now staying at Barca, Henry forecasts another year out on the wing but is nevertheless happy with life under Guardiola.

'Contrary to this time last season, when I was injured, I have been able to participate in the entire pre-season with Barcelona,' said the new Les Bleus captain, currently on international duty with the France squad in Sweden.

'With Guardiola, the new coach, we are doing two training sessions a day with more intensity.

'To hear him say he has confidence in me makes me very pleased even though, after what I have seen in the preparation matches, I think I am going to continue playing on the left.'

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