Argentine striker Lionel Messie scored all three of Barcelona’s goals in its victory against Valencia, 3-0. The game was played at Camp Nou on Sunday in the 26th round of La Liga. The match was not as easy for the Azulgranas as the score might suggest; the team has struggled in the last few games of the season. Fortunately, however, the Argentinian has been able to come to Barça’s rescue.
Messi is the highest scoring player in the league, with a total of 22 goals, followed by David Villa with 17.
Barcelona entered the first half lacking creativity in offense; Valencia controlled the game intelligently, taking over with counter attacks and ball recover. There wasn’t a sign of Xavi or Iniesta in creating; the offense showed a lack of mobility; and the team showed a definite inaccuracy in moving the ball. The only decent play Barcelona got off in the first half occurred at minute 30, when Messi stole the ball from Angel Dealbert and sent the ball just wide against goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez.
Valencia, suffering from the absence of two key players, David Villa and Juan Mata, was nonetheless superior to Barcelona in the first half. In fact, Barça goalkeeper Victor Valdes emerged as one of the most important figures in the period after intercepting a cross from Argentine Alejandro “Chori” Dominguez and stopping two shots from Alba and Pablo.
The last minutes of the half saw no difference in the game style or tempo. The half ended with the teams tied at 0-0.
In the second, there were several changes that altered the course of the match: first, Guardiola replaced the largely ineffectual Bojan Krkic with Thierry Henry; second, Valencia players, who had already lost the injured David Albelda in the first half, demonstrated their physical exhaustion from a match last Thursday against Werder Bremen of Germany.
The changes opened up Messi’s opportunities. The first came at minute 56, when the Argentine took control of the ball on the three-quarter of the field, leaving behind Banega and Bruno and surpassing Dealbert inside the area, kicking an accurate left shot and scoring over Cesar’s goal. The score was now 1-0 in favor of the Azulgranas.
Valencia tried to respond with only 20 minutes left in the game, but Victor Valdes again appeared to save the game. He stopped a shot from Nikola Zigic that had strong potential to tie the game.
Even better for Barcelona, after Zigic’s play, Dutchman Hedwiges Madura was sent off after an entry from behind to Messi, leaving Valencia with just 10 players. Eleven minutes later, Messi received a pass from Thierry Henry and doubled the lead with a left-footed shot from inside the box.
Two minutes later, Messi, alone in front of goalkeeper Sanchez after another pass from Henry, scored his third goal in a “hat trick” that proved his status as the best player in the world.
Valencia was unable to recover and Barcelona took the game, 3-0.
Despite Barça’s victory, however, the team still lags behind Real Madrid, which beat Valladolid 4-1 on Sunday to maintain first place in La Lagia. Both Madrid and Barcelona have totals of 65 points, but goal difference puts Madrid in the top spot.
At the end of the game, Valdes praised Messi’s performance.
"Messi is already the best player in the world, but he could become the greatest footballer in history. But I don't believe that the team is dependent upon him because we have other players of great quality.”
Barcelona’s next game will be against Real Zaragoza on March 21st, while Valencia will face Almeria on the same day at home.
Ally White has been a prominent writer on daily Spanish League Soccer; sports news and the sportsbetting industry for many exceptional sport web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.
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