La Liga Week 16: Barcelona Come Back From Behind To Defeat Villareal 2-1
December 23rd 2008 18:43
Faced with the prospect of seeing Barcelona running away with an unassailable lead in La Liga's standings, many teams were rooting for fourth-placed Villareal to defeat or at least get a draw against the Spanish giants. For a while, it looked like the Yellow Submarine would succeed in their tasks, but, similarly to the game against Real Madrid, the Blaugrana kept pushing for their fourth consecutive win.
Both teams came close to opening the score in the first half. After only two minutes of play, goalkeeper Diego Lopez had to come up with a save to deny Henry. At the 18th minute, Giuseppe Rossi, sent in alone to face Victor Valdes, could only fire his shot inches wide of the net. Rossi's breakaway from Barca's backline showed how playing the offside trap was a tricky affair. Still, both teams played it until the final whistle.
As a matter of fact, it was a player beating Barcelona's trap who opened the scoring. Two minutes into the second half, Cani, hiding behind Pique received a superb pass by Rossi right between the two central defenders. The striker then finished the play with a lovely chip to beat Valdes.
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At the 54th minute, Keita brought both teams level with a fearless header on a cross by Dani Alves. Ten minutes later, Xavi's cross found Thierry Henry in the box to give Barcelona a 2-1 lead over their opponent. Both Barcelona goals originated from a cross from the right, exposing Villareal's weakness on this side. Still, Villareal didn't give up. A red card to Pique at the 73rd minute provided them a golden opportunity to equalize the mark. Indeed, with Barcelona down to ten men, they would have to be careful going forward and adopt a more defensive stance instead of their usual possession-based game. The introduction of forwards Guille Franco and Nihat provided more attack to Villareal, but they couldn't capitalize on their chances. In the last ten minutes of the game, both forwards came close to equalizing the mark but their shots went wide, giving Barcelona their thirteenth win of the season.
Find more videos like this on MySoccerPlace.net - The Real Football Social Network
Find more videos like this on MySoccerPlace.net - The Real Football Social Network
The Blaugrana are now ten points clear of second-placed Sevilla, and it's looking more and more like they'll win the season title. I guess everyone else will be fighting for second place.
Barcelona's line-up: Victor Valdes; Dani Alves, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Eric Abidal; Seydou Keita, Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Busquets (Yaya Toure, 66th); Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o (Aleksandr Hleb, 84th), Thierry Henry (Martin Caceres, 79th).
Both teams came close to opening the score in the first half. After only two minutes of play, goalkeeper Diego Lopez had to come up with a save to deny Henry. At the 18th minute, Giuseppe Rossi, sent in alone to face Victor Valdes, could only fire his shot inches wide of the net. Rossi's breakaway from Barca's backline showed how playing the offside trap was a tricky affair. Still, both teams played it until the final whistle.
As a matter of fact, it was a player beating Barcelona's trap who opened the scoring. Two minutes into the second half, Cani, hiding behind Pique received a superb pass by Rossi right between the two central defenders. The striker then finished the play with a lovely chip to beat Valdes.
Find more videos like this on MySoccerPlace.net - The Real Football Social Network
At the 54th minute, Keita brought both teams level with a fearless header on a cross by Dani Alves. Ten minutes later, Xavi's cross found Thierry Henry in the box to give Barcelona a 2-1 lead over their opponent. Both Barcelona goals originated from a cross from the right, exposing Villareal's weakness on this side. Still, Villareal didn't give up. A red card to Pique at the 73rd minute provided them a golden opportunity to equalize the mark. Indeed, with Barcelona down to ten men, they would have to be careful going forward and adopt a more defensive stance instead of their usual possession-based game. The introduction of forwards Guille Franco and Nihat provided more attack to Villareal, but they couldn't capitalize on their chances. In the last ten minutes of the game, both forwards came close to equalizing the mark but their shots went wide, giving Barcelona their thirteenth win of the season.
Find more videos like this on MySoccerPlace.net - The Real Football Social Network
Find more videos like this on MySoccerPlace.net - The Real Football Social Network
The Blaugrana are now ten points clear of second-placed Sevilla, and it's looking more and more like they'll win the season title. I guess everyone else will be fighting for second place.
Barcelona's line-up: Victor Valdes; Dani Alves, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Eric Abidal; Seydou Keita, Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Busquets (Yaya Toure, 66th); Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o (Aleksandr Hleb, 84th), Thierry Henry (Martin Caceres, 79th).
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