I went to Barcelona a couple of weeks ago to watch the famous side take on Racing Santander. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, Barcelona scoring from the spot and Racing equalising with a deflected free-kick.
Disappointing
Watching the great Barcelona in the famous Camp Nou had always been an ambition of mine but the reality was, in the end, a little disappointing. The quality of the game was pretty poor in all honesty and although Barcelona kept possession quite impressively, it was mainly in their own half and seemed to serve no purpose.
The side seemed to have no cutting edge and the Barcelona crowd were getting increasingly frustrated. I wondered then if the Barcelona side under Pep Guardiola could be beginning to slide further behind their rivals than they were last season.
Impressive
Then, yesterday, Barcelona take on the impressive Atletico Madrid. This would be a real test as Atletico are a vibrant up and coming side. They were without six of their players, Maniche, Simao Sabrosa, Georgios Seitaridis, Pablo Ibanez, Diego Forlan and Ignacio Camacho, but coach Javier Aguirre claimed in the build-up that his team could still win the game. I also felt that Barcelona would be in for a tough night.
Eight minutes into the game, that tough night had just become a little easier! The rampant Barcelona side were already three goals to the good. Rafa Marquez soared to head home brilliantly in the third minute from a Xavi free-kick. Two minutes later Tomas Ujfalusi brought Messi down in the area and Sammy Eto’o stepped up to double the lead.
Quick thinking
The third goal was a typical piece of quick thinking by the mercurial Messi when he curled a free-kick around the defensive wall as it was still being lined up by the shell-shocked Atletico keeper, Coupet.
A fourth goal arrived just five minutes later but this time it was Atletico that reminded Barcelona that they were playing as well. Maxi hammered the ball home from the edge of the area to reduce the home side’s lead.
The visitors did pull a goal back shortly afterwards, though, when Maxi crashed a blistering drive past Victor Valdes from the edge of the box.
Finished in style
The three goal cushion was quickly restored when Eto’o turned the usually brilliant, but on this night, quite the opposite, Ujfalusi and finished in a style that suggested he might be getting back to his best.
On twenty-eight minutes it was 5-1 when a long strike from Iniesta hit the post and Eidur Gudjohnsen tucked in the rebound.
At that point it did look as though Barca could go on to get double figures, but as often happens in games like this, they were not quite able to maintain the intensity of their performance for the full ninety minutes.
Damage limitation
The second half saw Atletico adopting a damage limitation exercise and Barcelona just taking their foot a little off the pedal. There was one more goal when, after seventy-three minutes Thierry Henry finished a fine move, started by him, by driving the ball low past the deeply depressed Coupet.
That was it. 6-1 to a quite brilliant Barcelona side who moved up to second place in the table following the win.
Whilst I am very pleased that I have been to the Camp Nou to see Barcelona play, I am slightly disappointed that I chose the match I did rather than the one last night! The fact is that the side I watched against Racing looked short on ideas and confidence. In fact, they looked like a pretty average team. Last night they looked like the potential European champions that a team including the type of players they possess should do.
Serious challenge?
What has happened in the few weeks since I went to see them to turn them around so dramatically? Are they now a side that can make a serious challenge for La Liga and the Champions League? On last night’s showing, the answer to both of those last two questions is a definite yes. The answer to the first question is less obvious.
Just what has Guardiola done to bring about such a change?
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