2010/2011 season summary – Barcelona (Part 4)
With April starting off, Barcelona’s first opponents were Villarreal. The Catalan Giants had to face the Yellow Submarines without five of their starting players. All the five players were missing out due to injury but the Catalans still managed to win 1-0
as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gerard-c14664 Pique scored the winning goal in the 66th minute.
Gerard Pique’s celebration later made the headlines of a lot of news papers as he raised two fingers of both the hands to make a “22” sign which is actually the number of Eric Abidal’s jersey.
With this victory, Barcelona moved closer to the Spanish La Liga title as they extended their lead over the second placed Real Madrid to eight points. Real Madrid lost their weekend fixture to Sporting Gijon and received a shock at the Santiago Bernabeu.
On April 12th, Lionel Messi broke another record. The Argentinean star scored the only away goal against Shakhtar Donetsk in the return leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter final game. Messi helped Barcelona win 6-1 on aggregate and his away
goal took his goal scoring tally to 48 in all competitions.
Lionel Messi’s 48th goal was a record as he broke the previous record of the Brazilian striker Ronaldo and his own record which he managed to set last season – 47 goals.
Only four days later, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 had to face their arch rivals Real Madrid in the Spanish La Liga. This time the Los Blancos were prepared for the La Blaugrana and the match ended 1-1 after an even contest.
The goals were scored by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cristiano-Ronaldo-c9629’s goal scoring curse against Barcelona.
The draw between the two teams was Josep Guardiola’s first ever draw against Real Madrid as he always won against the Los Blancos during his career at the Catalan club.
This was one of the four El Clasico’s which were scheduled to be played in a time span of only one and a half month. Barcelona played Real Madrid in the Spanish La Liga and they were yet to face them in the Copa Del Rey final and the UEFA Champions League
finals.
Four days later, Barcelona faced Real Madrid yet again in the Copa Del Rey final. This time Real Madrid managed to win the game with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the winning goal from a header. The match went on to extra time and it was truly a test of stamina
for both the teams. However, Jose Mourinho’s men prevailed and won their first and only trophy of the 2010/2011 season.
It was Josep Guardiola’s first defeat in a final match and it was also his first loss to Real Madrid since joining the Catalans as a head coach.
The next game between the two teams was only seven days later. On 27th April 2011, Barcelona faced the Los Blancos in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semi final.
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