Barça 3 Betis 2
Wednesday, 24 September 08, 12:43 PM · Comments (29)
A goal from Eidur Gudjohnsen ten minutes from the end clinched a victory for Barça that had looked to be sewn up at half time. However, Barça threw away a two-goal lead through some sloppy play which nearly cost us dearly. Hats off to Pep Guardiola for his substitutions which managed to change the dynamic of the game back in Barça's favour when for a while it looked as though Betis might even sneak a win
Guardiola's surprise in team selection this week was to rest Carles Puyol and give a first start to Martin Caceres alongside Rafa Marquez in the heart of defence. Toure Yaya returned to the team at the expense of Sergio Busquets, and Andres Iniesta continued on the left side of the attack leaving Thierry Henry on the bench. The defensive pairing looked shaky and they were not helped by some poor defending by both full backs, while Toure began promisingly winning a dangerous free kick after just four minutes but he got worse as the game went on.
Barça began with Messi playing through the middle as he had in Gijon with Eto'o on the right wing, but after ten minutes they switched to their more natural positions and the switch soon paid its dividends. On 17 minutes Messi played the ball in from the right and Eto'o controlled, turned, shimmied to the right before unleashing a magnificent shot from just inside the area that flew in off the underside of the crossbar.
Six minutes later Eto'o fed Messi on the right and Messi beat the left back for speed, sending in a low cross which was met by Eto'o who had continued his run for the second goal. It looked to be plain sailing for Barça but the team were guilty of dropping the intensity. Messi had another great run which ended with a disappointing shot saved, and Alves also had a good run into the box before half time that he couldn't finish.
The second half began as one big yawn as both teams seemed content to leave the score as it was. However, Betis suddenly got the idea that Barça had relaxed and began to come forward. In the 57th minute Jose Mari shot wide from inside the area, a minute later Valdés had to palm over a powerful shot from Capi, and then from the corner Betis won an indirect free kick just inside the penalty area after dangerous play from Toure. Once again our defending at free kicks let us down: this time the wall left a hole between Eto'o and Toure which was found by Monzon with a low hard shot that gave Valdés no chance.
Betis sensed their chance and Barça began to look nervous. In the 67th minute Jose Mari got in between Caceres and Abidal, and Valdés could only get his fingertips on the chipped shot and the ball bounced softly into the far corner. It should be said that Barça got what they deserved here as the intensity had gone right out of our game. Fortunately, Guardiola reacted by putting on Busquets and Gudjohnsen in place of Toure and Keita, and then Bojan on for Eto'o.
The team seemed to react well to the changes and on 80 minutes a cross from the right from Alves found Gudjohnsen hurtling in at the far post, Gudjohnsen stretched a leg as the ball bounced just in front of him and was rewarded as the ball hit his shin and arced up past the goalkeeper and went in off the far post. Guddy celebrated with the typical thumping of the team badge on his shirt and ran across to Thierry Henry on the bench.
In the last ten minutes Barça played some very good football and Bojan came close after being put through by Messi, and then Messi won a free kick after another fine run which Alves curled against the post. There was one last chance for Messi after the keeper had come out to clear from Bojan, but Messi sent his volley back in well wide.
The positives from the game were a pretty good first half, two goals from Eto'o, the proof that Messi can make a run and then pass to set up goals or great chances, and of course Guardiola's substitutions with Gudjohnsen's goal. However, the defence was pretty poor today and the midfield didn't dominate as much. Xavi had a quiet game while Keita is struggling to fit in. We will need to improve on this performance if we are going to get anything out of Saturday's derby game with Espanyol on Montjuic.
Barça: Valdés 6; Alves 5.5, Marquez 5, Caceres 6, Abidal 5; Xavi 6, Toure 5.5 (Busquets m70, 6.5), Keita 5 (Gudjohnsen m70, 7.5); Messi 8, Eto'o 7.5(Bojan m76, 6.5) , Iniesta 6.5.
Goals: m17 Eto'o 1-0, m23 Eto'o 2-0, m59 Monzon 2-1, m67 Jose Mari 2-2, m80 Gudjohnsen 3-2
Barça yellows: m14 Toure, m85 Busquets
Attendance: 55,727
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blaugranaboy, I think Gudjohnsen is a great player to have on the squad. He's a jack-of-all-trades with good skills in both attack and defense. The man has some mass to him as well, and his experience in the Premiership makes him a good choice when it gets down and dirty. Gudi may not excel at any one skill but he's got enough to surprise anyone in a given situation.
Pequito - "I still remember the time Guardiola told Kluivert to kiss him on the cheek after the midfielder sent the Dutchman a beautiful through ball that he converted. Kluivert happily complied"
I saw this match on FSC a few months ago, it was very funny!
I'm so glad I watched this match all the way through, I was ready to go about my day when it was 2-0 in the 2nd half, but seeing Betis equalize and Barca notching the win was very entertaining. I'm still very worried about our defense though...
this game brought back the memories of the Betis meltedown last season...We played some exquisite football in the first half and scored 2 goals..but then we relaxed more than we needed to in the second half...as soon as second half began, i foresaw betis scoring at least one goal...I m just so glad that this game had different scoreline than our previous encounter with them.....overall, i 'd say we played a brilliant first half and a below par second half....Abidal needs to get outta the team and PIque needs to step in...Etoo was sublime..INiesta was not as good as previous games..Xavi was kinda subdued...Toure was good....and Messi was the MOTM....what a game by this guy...2 assists and numerous chances...That one run where he left that defender for dead and had the ball saved by the goalie deserved to be a goal...but i m sure he will score plenty more later...I m proud to be a Messi fanboy...
i never said i thought gudi was bad, i agree and have always thought its good to have him in there as a squad player. but calling him great is a massive exaggeration. he was once a pretty damn good player in england but now has lots massive amounts of pace which hurts his game. but yeah, he is good for the squad: versatile, doesnt cause problems off the pitch, doesnt complain, probably has a pretty lowish wage. but he would be way down the pecking order if i was in charge and see pretty little playing time and be used when we have lots of injuries.
i also loved the etoo - pep encounter. in a way they must be so use to him being a player and part of the team so they feel close to him. but u can tell he really wants to make it clear he is their boss now. lol. it was funny. etoo looked a bit worried for a second, but it was good to see him finally hug him. it was nice seeing etoo so fired up.
5,5 for Yaya (and 6,5 for Busquets!?) ?? Am I the only one who saw a really solid Yaya who also managed to bring the ball forward? He was a 7 tonight... What did Busquets do so much better than Yaya tonight?
Apart from that, it's nice to see Dani Alves fitting more and more into the system - too bad he didn't score from one of his chances. I'm still not impressed with Keita...
no, i commented i was really happy with yaya. he is immense. his tacking is world class and i feel he attacks just fine. he is my boy!
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this was an interesting game all in all but overall is one of the happiest ive been watching barca in years. the first 25 minutes were simply a delight to watch, it was the first time i thought this team can really compete in spain and the europe. our play was exquisite. i didnt yell at the tv once in anger, it was really lovely. and i loved etoo's goals, especially the first, he just hit that with such anger and raw power, the etoo i know and love.
yaya toure in the first 3 minutes looked a better player than keita has all season, in the first seconds he had a beast tackle and then a nice little run upfront minutes later. i thought he had a good game all in all and for sure has way more presence than keita and his passing was solid.
even when we got careless and lost goals i wasnt too upset. the first goal was a bad call by the ref to give the freekick and then the wall just disappeared, lucky goal. the second goal was more worrying, with both caceres and abidal looking poor. i did think abidal had a pretty damn good 1st half though, both attacking and defending.
but guardiola has again shown he knows what he is doing, his subs were great and he doesnt wait to react, i love it. i wasnt loving bringing in gudi, i thought it would be better to bring in bojan and drop iniest back, but he scored the goal and looked decent.
overall this game has made me the happiset with the team in yrs. sure we lost focus 2nd half but i really always felt we would find the winner. which i never felt would happen last year. that could be our best 11 with puyol in for caceres.
right now watching madrid dominate gijon. they look pretty damn good too, not gonna lie. with van der vaart, who could so easily been ours, play like a gansta and score a hatrick.
Yes, I thought Messi's performance today was his best yet. His vision was more what I'm used to seeing from Leo. I really liked how he played with Bojan toward the end of the match too. They are a good pairing, and I hope Pep will put Bojan out on the field more in the matches to come. Alves' cross that resulted in the winning goal was more like Brazilian as well. We need more of that. Overall, I liked how Barça picked it up at the end, looking quite comfortable in the counterattack. What I also thought poignant was when Gudjohnsen scored. Eto'o ran over to Guardiola and virtually slammed into the coach from emotion. Pep was taken aback and for a moment just stared at Samuel, seeming to take umbrage from the Cameroon's action. But when Eto'o came to embrace him, Guardiola acquieced--if with a grudging edge to his expression. Yep, Pep is definitely not Frank. Make no mistake, the man does have a sense of humor (if his days as a player are anything to go by. I still remember the time Guardiola told Kluivert to kiss him on the cheek after the midfielder sent the Dutchman a beautiful through ball that he converted. Kluivert happily complied), but he's coach now and for Pep that must mean a very obvious line is drawn between himself and the players. Given the ridiculous wealth and status of today's top professional footballers, it's probably just as well.