A penalty converted by Ronaldinho Gaucho and a second half goal from Xavi Hernandez gave Barça a narrow victory over a hard working Deportivo at Camp Nou tonight. The game was not pretty but Barça fans will be delighted with the return to the team of Samuel Eto’o and Deco.

Eto’o played from the beginning and battled for 63 minutes before Frank Rijkaard substituted him for Bojan. Deco came on in the second half for a disappointing Zambrotta, and played at a decent level, Barça definitely benefitted from the reshuffle that his entrance produced.

Barça began the game with Rafa Marquez playing just in front of the defence, with Xavi and Iniesta also in midfield. Ronaldinho returned to the team, as did Zambrotta which meant Puyol moved back to central defence alongside Gabi Milito. The changes didn’t stop Deportivo taking the lead after just two minutes. Guardado was allowed to advance into the Barça half, and when he squared the ball to Cristian nobody moved in to close him down, Cristian let fly from nearly 30 yards and Valdés should have stopped it but he was deceived by the flight of the ball.

Barça struggled to get into their stride but with Samuel Eto’o chasing every ball up front, the team was inspired to a fighting performance. Eto’o had his first attempt on goal after ten minutes after a good turn but his shot from outside the area went straight at Munúa, the Deportivo goalie. Depor continued to try from long range but Valdés dealt comfortably with shots from Guardado and Filipe. Then on 22 minutes Munúa saved well from a Ronaldinho free-kick, and the scramble that followed saw two efforts from Eto’o before Puyol’s shot was saved by the keeper.

Barça were having problems to connect between midfield and attack and chances were few and far between. Then five minutes before half time Iniesta beat a defender to run into the penalty area from the left, only to be brought down by a lunge from Cristian. Despite Messi’s 100% record with penalties, Ronaldinho stepped up to take the kick and he hit a crisp shot to Munúa’s left giving the keeper no chance.

With Deco coming on for Zambrotta in the second half Puyol switched to right back, Marquez moved into defence and Iniesta moved back to play in front of the defence. Barça’s game began to look more fluid; in the first half Marquez did not look comfortable in midfield, and Puyol and Milito had problems in the air against Depor’s centre forward Xisco. However, Barça were still not making any clearcut chances, Messi had one shot blocked and Iniesta shot poorly after combining well with Ronaldinho.

Barça had several shouts for free kicks turned down and then on 67 minutes a blatant penalty by Coloccini on Marquez was also missed by the ref. Barça’s hard work was finally rewarded in the 71st minute; Messi fed the overlapping Puyol who crossed towards Bojan running in at the near post, Munúa was put off by Bojan’s run and succeeded only in palming the ball into the path of Xavi who had a simple job to stick the ball in the net.

Barça tried to control possession for the last twenty minutes but as the game moved towards 90 minutes, nerves began to show. Fortunately Barça managed to hold on without too many problems though Deco was booked at the end for arguing.

This was not the best performance from Barça though Eto’o and Deco both showed encouraging form. Messi was disappointing and rarely got past his marker, while Ronaldinho showed a good attitude but is still nowhere near the player he was. The important thing was to keep in sight of Madrid and that was achieved, Depor were a much tougher opponent than their league position suggested they would be. 

Barça: Valdés 5, Zambrotta 5 (Deco m45, 6.5), Puyol 6.5, Milito 5.5, Sylvinho 6.5; Xavi 6, Marquez 6, Iniesta 7.5; Messi 5.5, Eto’o 7 (Bojan m63, 6.5), Ronaldinho 6.

Goals: m3 Cristian 0-1; m41 Ronaldinho (pen) 1-1; m71 Xavi 2-1.

Barça Yellow Cards: Deco m93. 

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