Barcelona vs. Malaga – player ratings (part 4)
Strikers – Barcelona
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296:
Lionel Messi is a maestro even if he is having an off-night on the pitch. He proved this today against Malaga and even though he looked to be very quiet in front of the goal, he took his chances on goal and disturbed the Malaga defensive walls all alone.
It was hard for the Malaga defenders to mark him and he was often fouled and taken down to stop his threatening drives.
Even though he did not put his name on the score board, he still brought a lot to the team. The Argentinean now plays as a centre forward for the Spanish Champions and with Pedro Rodriguez on the right flank and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Villa-c10629 on the left flank, Lionel Messi
becomes a deadly weapon for the opposition.
He often fell deep into the midfield to add an extra man at the heart of the pitch for Barcelona. His passing was simply superb and his close dribbling totally perplexed the opponents.
His combinations with David Villa, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez looked to be outstanding as all of them combined well to find the back of the net four times.
The first goal did not really come with his help but the move was initiated by him. Later, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sergio-Busquets-c33048 gave him the ball right outside the 18 yard box and he wonderfully passed the ball to David Villa, who made no mistake in finding the back of the net.
Later, during the first half, he found Andres Iniesta inside the 18 yard box and the Spaniard took his chance on goal, which was deflected by the Malaga defender.
Pedro Rodriguez tapped the ball in to score the third goal of the game. All the three goals that came during the first half involved Lionel Messi and that simply shows how much the team relies on him even with players like Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez
and David Villa being a part of it.
The Argentinean could not find the back of the net throughout the game even though he had three to four opportunities to score one but it was definitely not his “goal scoring night”. Even though he did not find the back of the net, he deserves an
8 for his efforts on goal.
Substitutes – Barcelona
Adriano:
The former Sevilla full back came on for Daniel Alves during the first half and even though he did not have the same pace and ability to attack, he still managed to defend well. Now with Daniel Alves out because of an injury, Josep Guardiola, is going to
play him often as a right back and he is definitely going to learn more.
The Brazilian deserves a 6 for his efforts because he is nowhere near the class of the first choice right back, Daniel Alves.
Bojan Krkic:
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bojan-Krkic-c7794 replaced the in-form Pedro Rodriguez and showed the fans what he was capable of. His pace was simply unmatchable up front but he only had 8 minutes to impress the fans. He quickly had a shot on goal but it was denied by the Malaga goalkeeper.
Bojan Krkic deserves a 5 for his efforts on the pitch.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ibrahim-Afellay-c16547:
The Dutch star came on the pitch with only 9 minutes remaining in the game. He was substituted for Andres Iniesta and with him falling in the midfield rather than the wing, he found the ball at his feet most of the times.
During the end of the game he managed to give Lionel Messi a wonderful pass which could lead to a goal but “Leo” misjudged it and he was left scratching his head. A solid performance by the youngster and he deserves a
6.5 for it.
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