Messi is the boss of the football

Lionel Messi netted the 400th goal of his storied career on Saturday as Barcelona trounced Granada 6-0 to maintain the pace at the top of La Liga.

 Messi scored twice and Neymar went one better with a hat-trick in Barca's rout but champions Atletico Madrid are on their tail after a late Raul Jimenez header completed a 4-0 victory over Sevilla that left them two points behind in second.

 Real Madrid are also in hot pursuit, four points behind in fifth, after Cristiano Ronaldo kept up his rich scoring form with the second goal in a 2-0 win at Villarreal where Luka Modric had put them ahead.

 Messi's extraordinary achievement of reaching the career landmark of 400 goals was the highlight of Barca's victory, leading to effusive praise for the great Argentine from manager Luis Enrique.

 "He (Messi) is someone who has been given a real magic and who enjoys playing football. I was thinking about taking him off but I enjoy watching him so much that I left him on for the 90 minutes," Enrique told a news conference.

Messi's second goal, thieving the ball off Jeison Murillo and slotting past the keeper, was the landmark 400th -- his 358th for Barcelona to accompany the 42 he has scored for Argentina.

 

 It illuminated Barca's perfect response following their 0-0 draw at Malaga, which featured not one shot on target and they now have 16 points from six games. Neymar broke Granada's stubborn resistance with a scrappy goal midway through the first half when his shot hit Jean-Sylvain Babin and looped over keeper Roberto Fernandez.

 Then in the run-up to halftime Granada's concentration slipped as Ivan Rakitic headed home a Messi cross and Neymar got his second. A fine move led to Dani Alves volleying a cross for Messi to head home the fourth after 65 minutes before Neymar struck again to complete his treble four minutes later, confidently picking his spot in the corner.

 "The team is looking very efficient at the moment whichever players we are putting out," said Luis Enrique.

Read More

FCB Great Win against Granada (6-0)

Luis Enrique finds himself in a tricky spot as Barcelona host Granada on Saturday. The team are fresh off a disappointing draw against Málaga in which they registered no shots on target – a first in over a decade – from which they must bounce back. On the other end, Barça travel to Paris next Tuesday to play Paris St-Germain in the most important fixture of their Champions League group.

 Luis Enrique must simultaneously deliver a rejuvenated performance and rotate his squad so they will be fresh against PSG. And Granada are no easy proposition. It was the toothless loss away to Granada that ended Barcelona’s winning streak last April and left the team stumbling towards the finish line. From that point on, Barça took only 9 points from their last 6 games and eventually lost the league to Atlético Madrid on the final day of the season. Even at Camp Nou, Granada have managed to cause trouble for the Catalans. A home match to Granada in 2012 was one of Tito Vilanova’s first of many comeback wins. The Andalusians shut up shop and defended for 87 minutes, and it took a last-minute bullet from substitute Xavi Hernandez to break the deadlock. La Liga veteran manager Joaquín Caparrós is leading the visitors in his debut season at Granada. Caparrós’ men have 8 points from their first 5 games, with a solid defensive record but little offense – 4 goals scored, 3 conceded. Barcelona are unlikely to have their clean sheet record broken, but scoring goals will be more of a problem for the blaugrana. In their last game, Barcelona were forced to the wings by Málaga, and with Luis Enrique’s forwards tucked in narrowly, the burden to create play fell to the fullbacks. The most astonishing statistic of the match: all of the forwards combined (Messi/Neymar/Pedro/Munir/Sandro) had a total of 143 touches on the ball; the three full-backs who featured had a whopping 216 touches all match. Luis Enrique’s team is incredibly dependent on full-backs, who are unable to dribble defenders one-on-one and destabilize defenses. Lucho’s diamond midfield has stabilized the defense, but against Granada he may want to involve some touches of the traditional Barcelona 4-3-3 in order to improve creativity in the midfield.

Read More

$$ FCB first draw this seasons against Malaga

Málaga FC claims the first point against FC Barcelona Wednesday, who loses their 100% in a 0-0 draw Wednesday. Málaga FC was very attentive, playing a strong, defensive game that Barça could not penetrate. “Slow game?” Iniesta said after the final whistle, “We tried but Málaga was very defensive. We knew it, but couldn’t solve it. They did a good job, we’ll take the point.

” "We always aim to get three points but although people take it as given that we’ll always win, today showed that that’s not the case” said tonight’s FC Barcelona captain Andrés Iniesta after the first setback in what has until now been the perfect start to the league season. And he felt that it was Malaga’s defensive tactics that were the main cause of their failure to score at La Rosaleda.

 Both Neymar and Messi were covered vigorously by the defense, while a few mistakes in the defense saw Bravo making several saves. The pitch in Andaluciá has had its share of criticism for being sticky. On the contrary, Neymar seemed to be sliding, unable to get a good handle on the ball in order to execute several chances. Still, Barça was missing the quick rhythm they have shown in the past few games. Meanwhile, Málaga were attentive and energetic throughout the game, constricting Barça’s chances.

 FCB Manager, Luis Enriquez admitted, “It was the hardest game so far because the opposition got things right.” Enriquez had switched the line-up yet again, particularly in the defense where they continue to have trouble spots. Out were Mascherano, Jordi Alba and Mathieu. In came Douglas, who made his debut today playing right fullback, alongside Pique, replacing Matheiu. Bartra and Alba joined them in the back line, while the midfield and front trio remained the same from Sunday.

Read More

FC Barcelona vs Malaga CF match reviews

Levante boss Luis Mendilibar clearly sent his team out with instructions to defend deep and try and hit Barça on the break and before Neymar broke the deadlock, it almost worked with only a brilliant last gasp tackle from Rakitic keeping out Casedesus on 14 minutes and Morales just failing to connect with a header soon afterwards.

 Barça continued to probe, with Neymar and Alba creating danger down the left. Neymar had already had three chances before just past the half hour mark he peeled off the last man, as Messi found him with a brilliant through ball.This time the Brazilian made no mistake, rounded the keeper and made it 1-0 as the Messi-Neymar partnership struck again.

Five minutes later Barça looked set to double their lead when Messi was brought down in the box, but the Argentinean shot wide from the spot. With Vytner shown red for the penalty, Levante were down to ten and when just before the break Rakitic hit a beautifully struck volley from 35 yards to make it two, there could be few doubts about who’d be taking the three points.

Messi got his rewards with goal number 5 on 77 minutes when he latched onto a poor clearance, beat two defenders and chipped the keeper with a sublime piece of skill.

Read More

$$ FC Barcelona wins against Levante

Ivan Rakitic scored the pick of the goals as Barcelona cruised to a 5-0 win over Levante, who went down to ten men in the first half.

 So that's an easy three points for Barcelona and they go back to the top of the fledgling La Liga table, while Levante stay rooted to the bottom with just one point and still no goals. Neymar, Ivan Rakitic, Sandro, Pedro and Lionel Messi all scored a goal apiece, while Messi missed a first-half penalty and Loukas Vyntra was sent off for Levante. That's all the action from Valencia tonight, thanks as always for joining us and see you next time!

Read More

FC Barcelona vs APOEL Nicosia match result :(1-0)

Barcelona will make their 2014-15 UEFA Champions League debut tomorrow, as they prepare to welcome Cypriot champions APOEL Nicosia to the Camp Nou in the opening match of Group F. 

Following two impressive, yet narrow victories over Villarreal CF and Athletic Bilbao, the Blaugrana sense that tomorrow’s match presents them with an opportunity to make a statement to the rest of the footballing world: a statement that real progress has and is being made under the guidance of new head coach, Luis Enrique.

 The appointment of the former club captain has revolutionised the club, prompting some to draw comparisons with Barça’s recent success and to dub Lucho as the "next Pep Guardiola".

 Perhaps such comparisons are a little premature, but there can be no denying that the early signs are very positive indeed.

Read More

Neymar and Messi brilliance sees off brave Bilbao (2-0)

Two goals in five minutes late on from Neymar gave Barça a deserved win in an exciting game against Bilbao at the Nou Camp this afternoon. The Brazilian came on for Munir, who again gave a solid performance, just after the hour mark and his skill, speed and understanding with Messi tipped the scales Barça’s way against the determined and lively Basques.

Read More