Barça chalked up their first league win of the season with a fairly comfortable 3-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao. Two first half goals from Ronaldinho and a hotly disputed second half strike from Touré Yaya were enough to earn Barça the three points.
There were three changes from last week’s team against Racing. Deco, Henry and Marquez came into the team in place of Iniesta, Eto’o and Thuram, but there was no place for Gabi Milito who sat on the bench alongside the likes of Iniesta and Giovani dos Santos.
Barça got off to a great start and were 1-0 up after seven minutes. Ronaldinho ran at the defence through the inside left position and was fouled 25 yards out. Ronnie took the free kick himself smashing a tremendous shot into the far top corner of the goal.
Barça played some good football after the goal but failed to convert their dominance into chances. Then just after the half hour Barça got their second. Henry and Ronaldinho combined well and Henry running onto Ronnie’s pass was brought down by Gorka Iraizoz, the Athletic keeper. It looked a bit doubtful at the time as the collision was well after Henry had flicked the ball to the side of the keeper. The replay showed that the contact had been between Henry’s knee and the goalkeeper’s mouth, but the ref gave a penalty and Ronaldinho converted with a powerful penalty low to the keeper’s right.
Barça were now clearly in control and everyone seemed to be having a good game, none more so than Eric Abidal who was excellent both in defence and attack. Just before half time Abidal crossed from the left for Ronaldinho who nearly got his third from a tight angle.
The second half started quietly but after 59 minutes Henry exchanged passes with Abidal before shooting against the post, as the play continued both Deco and Messi had shots saved by Iraizoz. A couple of minutes later Henry was replaced by Giovani dos Santos. That’s two posts in two weeks for Henry, let’s hope his luck improves, he looked pretty good today.
The game was petering out when all of a sudden with 19 minutes to go Athletic pulled a goal back. A cross from the right was poorly punched by Valdés directly to the excellent Susaeta who hit the ball straight back through a crowd of players into the net.
Before Barça had a chance to get nervous they restored their two goal advantage, but they had the linesman to thank for it. Touré, who scored a fantastic right footed goal against Inter, this time let fly with his left. The ball crashed against the crossbar and bounced down and out off the line, play continued for a couple of seconds before the referee noticed that the linesman was flagging for a goal. Despite the protests from the Athletic players the goal stood.
The game finished with Marquez and Koikili being sent off to leave both teams with ten men. Milito came on in place of Ronaldinho for the last 12 minutes.
Barça: Valdés 6; Zambrotta 7, Márquez 6, Oleguer 6, Abidal 8; Touré 6.5, Deco 7 (Iniesta, m66, 6), Xavi 6.5; Ronaldinho 8(Milito, m77, 6), Messi 7, Henry 6.5 (Giovani, m61, 6).
booked: Deco sent off: Marquez
goals: 1-0 Ronaldinho (pen) min 7, 2-0 Ronaldinho min 31, 2-1 Susaeta min 71, 3-1 Touré min 72.
Attendance: 76,812
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5 responses so far ↓
joanamenos // Sep 3, 2007 at 12:03
Madrid newspapers publish today a sea of criticisms about the “two big mistakes” of Mr. Carlos Megía, the ref of Barça-Athletic. The old discussion about machines of referee support has been reborn. You could see the third goal in “You tube”: the ball is off the line, but in the field journalists doubted at the first moment (for instance, in RAC 1, the most important catalan station). The same doubts were showed about the penalty given to Barça after the contact between Henry’s knee and the goalkeeper.
Actually, this kind of machines is already operating in some tennis matches. Some people think that they are absolutely necessary in modern football. They say too that this sport is not a play for amateurs or beginners, because its working and results are important for companies, televisions, newspapers, millions of supporters, etc. Football promotes business and passions.
But other specialists consider that debating is the heart of football. Football is interesting because there are a lot of talks and controversies about referee judgements. Actually, is impossible for human eyes to decide rightly about a penalty or offside position in two seconds. But that’s not a trouble for soccer: it’s an amazing moment! They note another defect of that “automatic eye”: the game must be stopped.
I prefer this last position, but the game is over…
JK.sleepy // Sep 4, 2007 at 2:38
Good to see Ronnie score.
Gervasio Garcia // Sep 4, 2007 at 9:11
I think that a Falcon eye, the same of the tennis courts, is the better solution. I can not understand how is possible the football stadium don’t have this machine. A lot of money is expended by the clubs in publicity, merchandising, marketing, etc.
Why don’t the football clubs expended in this essential machine a little bit money?
The question only have an answer: They are interesting to rig the score or the final result. The bet world give quite profits. ….
In the other side, even the politicians can change the results if they are interesting.
Are you agree?
joan amenos // Sep 4, 2007 at 18:27
1. Perhaps you are right, Gervasio. But I don’t know the working of Falcon’s eye. Have you confidence? Otherwise, I think that this machine is only useful in decisions about the movement of the ball (out of the line, in line…). But that is not a solution when one player clashes with other, in a penalty, about the majority of offside positions, etc. The supporters know that their discussions continue in front of television (with the same film!).
2. So, Falcon’s eye could have decided the goal of Touré. It was easy for the linesman and he should not flag for a goal. But the situation is absolutely different in the contact between Henry and the goalkeeper. Any machine can decide clearly. There are a lot of shades in the interpretation of rules, the player movements are fast and perhaps the kick is not deliberate. The referee must decide if the final result is voluntary or it’s only an accident. We could say the same about unsporting behaviors. All these judgments need one person, one human mind, not an automatic brain.
Gervasio Garcia // Sep 5, 2007 at 9:11
Of course, I agree with you. I think that the Falcon’s eye and other kind of machines could help us in some decision. We can use these machines in situation which the judge could not see the event or he demand it for to be sure of his decision. In the other side, the figure of a fourth judge is very important because he can check the replay and correct the principal judge. The machine always is a support for to make a decision, can be binding but not necessarily the resolution of the move which not depends ONLY of this machine……
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