Barça 6 Valladolid 0
Saturday, 08 November 08, 04:54 PM · Comments (47)
I thought it would be impossible to improve on the last league home games, but Barça tonight annihilated Valladolid with yet another display of breathtaking attacking football. Four first half goals from an unstoppable Samuel Eto'o gave Barça another big half time lead, but today the second half did not drop in quality as it had against Atletico and Almeria, and goals from Eidur Gudjohnsen and Thierry Henry sealed Barça's biggest win yet under Pep Guardiola.
Valladolid had the first shot on target with a free kick in the second minute but Valdés saved easily. Gudjohnsen missed with a header and Messi had a couple of efforts before Barça took the lead in the 12th minute. Dani Alves found Eto'o with a superb pass from the right touchline and Eto'o cut inside one defender before firing low through the legs of Valadolid keeper Asenjo.
Barça's level dropped for a while but in the last twenty minutes of the first half we were quite simply outstanding. Leo Messi lead several breakaways and the times when the ball ended up at Eto'o's feet the ball ineviably ended up in the back of the net. On half an hour Messi fed Eto'o who laid off a great flick to Henry whose shot was saved but Eto'o was on hand to fire home the rebound. In the 43rd minute Messi set off on another run before playing a perfectly timed pass into Eto'o who rounded the keeper to complete his second first-half hat-trick of the season. Then a minute later Messi once more mesmerized the Valladolid defence and a defender only succeeded in deflecting the ball straight to Eto'o who had a simple finish.
I have to admit that I've lost count of Eto'o's Camp Nou goals this season but his goals per game ratio has to be one of the best ever in modern football. Three goals in the first half against Almeria followed by four first half goals today is surely unrepeatable. Leo Mesi also had a remarkable first half and is probably in the best form of his life right now. It seems the decision to allow him to play in the Olympics was the right one as Messi seems totally happy at the moment and this is reflected in his game.
Valladolid had a couple of chances early in the second half but Victor Valdés proved that his concentration is good even when we are winning easily, and the team generally continued with a very good second half performance. Eidur Gudjohnsen who was back in the starting line-up today capped a good performance with Barça's fifth after a defensive mix-up had given Henry the chance to set up him up. Then near the end Hleb played a one-two with Messi before unselfishly squaring to Henry to score the sixth.
Enjoy it while it lasts people, we won't often see football played at this level.
Barça: Valdés 7, Alves 7.5, Marquez 7.5 (Caceres m68, 6), Piqué 6, Puyol 8; Xavi 7.5, Toure 8, Gudjohnsen 7.5 (Keita m71, 6); Messi 9, Eto'o 9.5 (Hleb m75, 6.5), Henry 6.5.
Goals: m12 Eto'o 1-0, m30 Eto'o 2-0, m43 Eto'o 3-0, m44 Eto'o 4-0, m71 Gudjohnsen, m84 Henry 6-0.
Barça yellow card: m20 Toure.
Attendance: 58,276
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i really dont have anything more to say i mean i wanted us to play like this so bad last season, to shut anyones mouth who said barca are weak,and barca are gonna lose without ronaldinho, now that we play this good i don't know what to say
Puyol had a phenomenal contribution to Barcelona's shut out today. He made about 7 goal-saving tackles in the box and he was playing out of position on the left wing for goodness sake. Wow. He was everywhere dominating the valladolid attack. The fans were chanting his name after a crucial stop in the box late in the second half.
Alves was great on the defence too.
And wow Xavi had so many back-heel flicks through defenders that actually connected. Not often you see players pull off that move with finesse but xavi is out of this world.
If goals didnt count so much in this sport, Messi would have definitely won man of the match. Messi's playmaking ability and vision was clearly evident in this game. He just dribbled around the defence and made around 6 defence splitting passes to eto'o and henry that put them 1 v 1 with the goalie.
He had a genius play where he flicked the ball over the left back, ran towards the goal and split the ball through to henry but the french forward wasted it by popping it up and then crossing it for no one.
The fans were chanting Messi's and eto'os name too.
Also last year under rijkaard, the team was very one-dimensional with most of the posession circulating around one side of the field however this year its completely different. The blaugrana are attacking from everywhere using the whole width of the pitch. It was constant bombardment for valladolid today. Also the interchangeability of the front three is not making it easy for the defenders either.
Posted this in the previous news, but heres the link again for the goals.
LINK
Very happy with the lads - what can you say...we are being treated to some amazing displays
I read a quote on pep's blog ("the FCBtransfers-blog") made by the basel coach after we trounced them 5-0 at their homeground he said
"what happend to us tonight is gonna happen to a lot of teams this season"
almeria(5-0) malaga(4-1) valladolid(6-0)
........guess he was right
Wow Eto'o at 9.5 I don't think I've ever seen a score that high on here...awesome game.
This Barca, as someone pointed out, uses all quadrents of the pitch. No one is excluded from the game and everyone is working and running for each other. Keep it up Barca and please please when Madrid visit the Nou Camp, dont beat them, destroy them!!
What a game it was!!! Etoo was unstoppable, and what can you say abt Messi?? I have been sayin this since the begininin of 06/07 season...Messi is the best player in the world without a doubt.....Cristiano is nothin in front of him...and to the ppl that said, Cristiano was more of a team player than Messi last season, go check the assists stats....and what's important is, Messi didn't even play as many games as him... 
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Breathtaking... Great game everyone and what makes the victory even sweeter is that we didn't concede a goal. Love it how crowd was chanting for Eto'o and other players.
everyone was great..but henry kept doing the same anoying thing he always does...he should improve...when everyone is playing fast pace...he slow it down rapid...