I read somewhere this week that Barça hadn’t scored a goal from a corner since a Rafa Marquez goal at Betis back in January. This was on my mind today as Barça struggled to penetrate the Recreativo defence, eleven corners went Barça’s way in the first hour without creating any danger. Then in the 64th minute Xavi sent over Barça’s twelfth corner of the game and it was met by a superb header from Gabi Milito that flew into the net to open the scoring.
As had been suggested Barça began without Ronaldinho who didn’t even get a place on the bench. Gudjohnsen got the start he deserved for some good recent performances but unfortunately it was not going to be his day. Barça started slowly and didn’t create anything until the 13th minute when Iniesta, playing on the left, cut inside to unleash a powerful drive that was palmed over by Sorrentino the Recreativo goalkeeper.
Four minutes later Messi made his first contribution, setting up Zambrotta who shot wide of the far post. Then Gudjohnsen put Xavi through but he failed to find Henry who was free in the middle. Barça didn’t have another chance until the 38th minute when Messi burst into the area after playing a one-two with Xavi, but Sorrentino managed to stick out a leg to save the Argentinian’s effort.
All in all it was a pretty poor first half, but the second half started even worse as Recre finally created some danger after Puyol slipped, Sinama took advantage to run on goal from a wide angle and Valdes was forced into his only save of the game. Messi had a great run in the 54th minute but his final shot rolled wide. Moments later Marquez came on for Puyol who seemed to be suffering a back problem.
In the 58th minute Messi crossed to Gudjohnsen but the Icelander failed to control, a minute later he was substituted for Bojan. Five minutes later Milito’s goal finally broke the deadlock and then in the 66th minute Barça were two up. Xavi’s long pass found Henry who was now playing on the left, Henry played the ball back for Bojan who waited for a defender to commit himself before shooting low past Sorrentino.
It was only after this second goal that Barça started to play some decent football. Henry and Messi both seemed inspired by Bojan, and the Recre defence began to look vulnerable. In the 70th minute it should have been 3-0 after a great ball from Bojan found Henry who squared to Iniesta to tap home. Unfortunately the linesman incorrectly flagged Henry offside.
Henry then set up Bojan but he mishit an attempted chip. It was then Henry’s turn to mishit a shot after a fine scooped pass from Iniesta. Then in the 80th minute another run from Messi ended with him being brought down for a penalty. Messi coolly gave Sorrentino no chance from the spot to make it 3-0. In the last few minutes there were a couple more golden chances, first Bojan passed to Messi who once more surged into the area, this time he shot at the keeper when Henry was again free at the far post. Messi then made amends by sending a great pass through to Henry but the Frenchman couldn’t beat Sorrentino who had come out well to narrow the angle and save.
This was not a good performance from Barça and the final scoreline is a bit flattering. Mind you Recreativo did very little to make a game of it spending most of the time defending and getting away with fouls that the referee preferred not to see. I’d rather complain about a ref after a victory, that way it doesn’t look like sour grapes, and today’s ref let the Recre defenders get away with far too much. Barça’s 100% home record remains intact but now Barça will have to improve if they want to take something from their next two games away at Lyon and at Espanyol.
Barça: Valdés 6.5; Zambrotta 5.5 (Oleguer m64, 6), Puyol 5.5 (Marquez m54, 6), Milito 6.5, Abidal 6.5; Xavi 6, Toure 6.5, Gudjohnsen 5 (Bojan m59, 7.5); Messi 6.5, Henry 6, Iniesta 6.
Goals: m64 Milito 1-0; m66 Bojan 2-0; m81 Messi (pen) 3-0
Yellow Cards: Zambrotta m11, Toure m76.
14 responses so far ↓
Nic // Nov 24, 2007 at 23:50
Madrid have only drawn 1-1 at Murcia so we are back to two points behind
e10 // Nov 24, 2007 at 23:52
Well done boys, great display by all.
But Krkic was outstanding when he came on as a sub on the hour mark.
And that hopefully this form will continue into the coming weeks.
Also that Real Madrid drew 1-1 with Real Murcia which is also very good news to hear for all Barca fans.
Blaugrana.
dayib // Nov 25, 2007 at 13:33
last night was good night for barca funs but it wasn’t good performance because barca players didn’t make more targed balls.
all in all the best players of the game were the legend of the team mr xavi and the youngest man of the team bojan.
i think still there is bad performance of the some players, i hope next games would bacome well that players.
an other news was when the real’s draw at murcia so now barca behind real only two points ……..it’s well………………
Titi186 // Nov 25, 2007 at 18:30
Absolutely average performance by a fatigued squad who have just come back from travelling so no real complaint as it was expected. All the big teams around Europe struggled (Real drew, Arsenal just about won, Man Utd lost) so fair enough to Barca
At last Real got what they deserved and ran out of luck but still had enough for the Murcia player to miss an easy chance in the 90m to win the game so for the time being the gap is 2 points.
Bojan finally got his goal
and Henry finally got a 6 
If any people need convincing it is clear that Henry plays better with another striker (bojan) even in a 4-3-3 because they have the same mind set.
Ronnie and Messi are more like wingers and the amount of times MESSI DID NOT PASS WHEN HE SHOULD HAVE to Henry was ridicuous. If Messi sets up for Henry for a tap in and Barca lead then fair enough dribble all you want but untill Barca score earlier in games keep they individual play to a minimum.
I know all you people who like to see his mesmirising runs like they way he jinks past people before 80% of the time shooting just wide need to realise if Messi passes when he has a team mate ready for a tap in will know that is when Barca will open up teams more easily and win games - and more away games.
Messi is least effective when he is away from home in case you havent noticed because they close down more away from home and space is more limited because Barca home pitch is biggest in the league.
Nic // Nov 25, 2007 at 18:51
Hey Titi, you should know that the Spanish press criticised Henry again. The Sport gave him a 5 for yesterday’s performance. http://www.sport.es/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=44&idnoticia_PK=461697&idseccio_PK=803
At least Messi knows how to beat a defender in a one-on-one situation. And Messi did give a great pass to Henry in the 88th minute that Henry failed to convert when he only had the keeper to beat. By the way in league and Champions league Bojan has scored a goal for every 132 minutes he has played, Henry has only scored one for every 189 minutes. Enough excuses for Henry, we want to see more goals
Titi186 // Nov 25, 2007 at 19:54
Listen mate you Barca fans are full of bull sometimes you sign a great living legend then use him as a scapegoat when your literal God Messi (yes you idiots actually bow down to him in the stadium) and when he only scores a penalty you go on like he is the saviour of football. Cristiano Ronaldo is a far better player because he passes to people in better positions. Change your system, or manager, or give us Henry back. Henry will never reach the level he was at with you greedy indivisual players (bar Iniesta and Xavi who has a good understanding with Henry).
Stop using him as a scapegoat. Barca have no balance. If Arsenal get Barca in the champions league may Fabregas go easy on you. Face up to it you are in a crisis and Spanish teams are at the end of a cycle and the English teams are becoming the dominant teams in Europe. For crying out loud last year you got beat by a ginger guy and a welshman in your won stadium (Liverpool in CL QF). You are just not that good. And neither is your manager. And yes Im in a bad mood hence my ranting today.
Nic // Nov 25, 2007 at 20:56
Us idiots?
TeamBarca // Nov 25, 2007 at 21:11
Wow they gave Gudjohnsen a 6 and I didn’t think he played particularly well. Titi you need to calm down. It’s a fact that Henry hasn’t been doing to well and you can’t blame other Barca players for it. He’s probably had the most opportunities of any of the Barca players to score but has failed to do so. But he’s not the only one without criticism, Ronnie gets it as at times does Messi and some of the others. I actually thought Messi should have passed by the way.
You can have Henry back but it looks like Arsenal is doing just fine without him.
lukman // Nov 26, 2007 at 15:49
I my name is adeniyi pls i need ur daily report
Titi186 // Nov 26, 2007 at 16:07
Yeah I know I need to calm down it just bewilders me why man for man Barca have much better players than Real but we still play like sh!t sometimes. Alright it was 3-0 but it was hardly deserving. A corner, a decent goal and a penalty!? Hardly total football. Make no mistake I support Barca here in London but sometimes I can never understand your footballing culture. You have favourites such as Messi, Xavi, Puyol, etc who seem to never get critised. I really do not like Madrid but they are playing average with good players but still find themselves top.
If you give Wenger half the talent Barca currently have he would make them the best footalling side in the world both style-wise and results-wise. I think Rijkard needs to have a look at himself. He has done great and the team has some great players but the team has no balance and no purpose about it. No one seems to know what the other one is doing. Henry is playing way below his best, Ronnie has forgotten to pass forward, Messi has dropped form a little and I cant remember the last time Xavi played a decent through ball.
I think the team needs a reshuffle and a new manager who is capaple to keeping the big names and their ego’s in check. And yes I was in a bad mood yesterday so sorry for the angry sounding post
FCB - Canada // Nov 26, 2007 at 19:36
They should have annihilated Recreativo but seemed content to only be playing one gear above them. Scoreline should have been 3-0 after the half. Sometimes it really does seems there is a mental attitude problem about the players. Is it possible that everyone believes that there are so many stars on the team that they feel they don’t need to work as hard knowing someone else might pick up the team? I would have to agree with you Titi186 about Rijkaard. I get the impression that he’s just too relaxed with the players. I think Xavi has been playing well. Did you see the games from Spains Euro qualifying? It was all Xavi.
Eventually things will fall into place and Henry will have many goals with Barca. My only concern is when Deco and Eto come back will that open up another can of worms? This sport definately does not lack drama. Hehe…
Off topic, can someone tell me why the crowd at the Nou camp is so quiet compared to say Real Madrid or the other smaller teams in the league who have a fraction of the crowd size? It’s somewhat disconcerting when you don’t see the crowd showing their support. Is it an older crowd at the Nou camp?
Speeka // Nov 26, 2007 at 20:02
“Stop using him as a scapegoat. Barca have no balance. If Arsenal get Barca in the champions league may Fabregas go easy on you. Face up to it you are in a crisis and Spanish teams are at the end of a cycle and the English teams are becoming the dominant teams in Europe”
Laughable!
Did you learn that from Croatia? Or should we ask Sweden who’s producing the beter Football?
blaugranafan // Nov 27, 2007 at 1:41
I’m so glad you found a same-day video link that isn’t provided by Marca. I appreciate the moderator’s efforts to allow open debate, but I’m wary of the tone and tenor of comments becoming like those on goal.com…which would be a real shame.
Titi–I think you would be surprised at the number of critics out there who say Messi is too selfish. Cruyff has been saying it for a long time.
Henry’s problems in Rijkaard’s system are well-known, but I honestly can’t say I know of any other team that is especially more ‘balanced’ than Barca. Other teams may play at a faster pace, but they certainly can’t claim to be more balanced.
Xavi is the type of player that you may not notice but will certainly miss. He may not be that flashy, but his pass-completion ratio is always among the highest of any player in the big three leagues. I recall one game earlier this year where he completed 79 of 82 passes. You can’t beat that.
Nic // Nov 27, 2007 at 15:14
On the subject of comments - I intend not to edit or delete comments unless they are extremely offensive, during the Rangers ‘debate’ I let things go a bit but I suppose I didn’t want anyone thinking I was taking sides. I would prefer there were no negative references to any nationality, race, sexual preference, religious belief or even hair colour as has appeared in the comments above, again I let it go this time as I was partly responsible for provoking an angry response. If anyone is ever offended by any comments please contact me and I will consider flexing my moderating powers. Apologies if anyone has already been offended.
As for the lack of noise at Camp Nou I think there a couple of reasons - one is the average age is not so young at games, there has been talk for years of creating a young fans’ zone in the ground but nothing has happened. Joan Laporta also had a campaign against the Boixos Nois, who used to sing, because of their hooligan element. Another reason could be that the ground is often not full which doesn’t inspire singing very much, the football culture here also has little to do with drinking as perhaps it does in northern Europe. However, having said that, for big games when the ground is full the atmosphere can be second to none and is something any football fan should try to experience at least once in their life.
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