A goal after half an hour from Thierry Henry was enough to see off an organized but unambitious Racing Santander. Leo Messi returned after five weeks out injured to play the last twenty-five minutes and lift a pretty ordinary performance from Barça. After Real Madrid’s win in their game against Atletico this was a vital win for Barça to stay in contention for this season’s league championship.

Frank Rijkaard once again chose to rest some key players with an eye on next week’s Cup game at Villarreal. Xavi, Marquez and Abidal all started on the bench along with Messi and new goalie Pinto. For the first time both teenage strikers Bojan and Giovani started a game together alongside Henry in attack.

However, Barça started slowly and Racing created the first attacks of the game with Oriol heading over after five minutes. Iniesta who started the game just in front of the defence was marked closely and struggled to get the team moving. Henry’s touch seemed to have deserted him as he failed to get into the game, being called offside a couple of times early on. Barça’s first chance fell to Henry from Zambrotta’s cross, but his right-foot volley went well over.

In the 18th minute Gudjohnsen sent Giovani down the right, but after the Mexican cut inside his attempts on goal were blocked twice by the defence. Henry then had a golden opportunity but he headed over from only a couple of yards out after another cross from Zambrotta. Then on 24 minutes Sylvinho’s free kick was headed wide by Bojan.

After half an hour Henry finally found his touch with a deft pass to Bojan who won a corner. Deco’s kick missed everyone but a horrible mistake from Navas teed the ball up to Henry who this time made no mistake with his header from two yards. Racing almost came straight back with a dangerous cross from the right that came to nothing, and a few minutes later Racing had a penalty appeal turned down after Milito tangled with Tchite in the area. When the half time whistle was blown Barça led through the only on-target goal attempt from either side.

Henry improved in the second half and after 54 minutes he got to the by-line before pulling the ball back to Gudjohnsen whose shot was blocked. Then a couple of minutes later a mistake from Zambrotta led to Racing’s best chance of the game but Valdés pulled off a fine save from Serrano’s shot. Barça responded immediately with a left-footed strike from Iniesta that was comfortably saved by Coltorti. But just as the game seemed to be coming to life Rijkaard brought on Marquez for Gudjohnsen and Barça looked much more secure at the back from then on, and Iniesta moved forward and began to show signs of his quality.

The biggest cheer of the night came after 65 minutes when Messi came on for Giovani, and his first run with the ball led to a free-kick that Deco hit into the wall. After 70 minutes Messi started a counter attack with a nice first time pass to Deco who then fed Henry, the Frenchman put in a dangerous cross but Coltorti dived to punch away in front of Bojan. A minute later, a great pass from Messi found Deco inside the area, he skipped past one challenge but his centre across the face of the goal was cleared by the defence.

After that Messi was less active and Barça were more conservative, knowing they could not afford to take any risks. Abidal came on for Sylvinho and Barça did not suffer as they so often do in the last ten minutes of close games. Racing’s final fling saw a header go wide from Navas in the 92nd minute, but Barça held on comfortably.

This was another game where the result was better than the performance, but after Madrid’s victory there was no room to take any unneccesary risks. Racing are a decent team who deserve respect, and Barça were without many players so a 1-0 victory should be seen as a good result. I’m not too happy about Rijkaard reserving players for a second class tournament like the Copa Del Rey, but they got the three points which is what matters most and managed to give players a valuable rest. Puyol and Milito were once again solid at the back, Zambrotta had a good game which is encouraging, and Leo Messi is back; please God may he never be injured ever again.

Barça: Valdés 7; Zambrotta 7, Puyol 7, Milito 7, Sylvinho 6 (Abidal m82, –); Gudjohnsen 6 (Marquez m58, 6), Iniesta 6.5, Deco 5.5; Giovani 6 (Messi m65, 6.5), Bojan 6, Henry 6.

Goal: Henry m31 1-0.

Barça Yellow: Deco m85.

See Henry’s goal here.