Barcelona vs. Villarreal - Guardiola's men simply unstoppable as Lionel Messi scores another brace!
The Catalan giants were all over Villarreal as the match kicked off in Camp Nou. It was the Spanish striker and the former Valencia goal-scoring machine David Villa who rounded off a furious Barcelona start as he scored the first
goal of the game in the 21st minute; however, the visitors were ready to take the challenge and Brazilian striker Nilmar evened up the scoring after only five minutes which was followed by a controversial offside decision of Lionel Messi. The Argentinean
maestro was not offside as he had a clear shot on goal and gave a pass to Pedro Rodriguez who found the net, but Lionel Messi was later waved offside even though he was not.
Barcelona played some wonderful football as the fans sitting in the Nou Camp saw them go through an in-form Villarreal, who only managed to make three clear passes for the first 25 minutes of the game. Later, in the 21st minute,
David Villa managed to score a goal and even though Villarreal managed to fight back and drew the game, it was only for a while and after an extraordinary performance from Josep Guardiola’s side and two strikes from Lionel Messi, the home side won the game
3-1 in a game which was later headlined as one of Barca’s best performances of the season.
The current Spanish Champions totally pinned Villarreal back in their boxes as the game started. Guardiola’s side had pace and passing which was superb and did not give Villarreal a single chance and it was Lionel Messi’s shot
from point blank during the 13th minute which was saved by Diego Alves to keep his side in the game. In the 21st minute, the newly signed David Villa gave Barcelona the lead as he rounded off a lethal counterattack. The ball won by Sergio
Busquets was later passed on to Xavi Hernandez who gave a wonderful through ball to Andres Iniesta. Iniesta made a run and gave a wonderful through ball to David Villa who made no mistake in planting the ball into the net.
Barcelona saw themselves going a goal down rather than going one up. The Catalan giants should have been a goal up when Lionel Messi and Pedro Rodriguez easily spurned the offside trap but the linesman inexplicably flagged them
offside and denied them the goal. In the very next phase of play, with most of Guardiola’s men surprised at the referee’s decision, Nilmar got past the defensive walls of the Catalan giants and scored a marvellous goal to put the visitors on level terms. The
goal shook Barcelona altogether and after the goal a few minutes were dominated by the visitors who kept on threatening the defensive lines of Barcelona.
After the half time, the home side capitalized the break to put the grumbles about the referee behind them and started to dominate the game with their flawless passing. Guardiola’s men came out after the break in the same way they
did when the game kicked off and they soon got a deserved second when a quick free-kick taken from Xavi Hernandez saw Lionel Messi. The goal was simply sensational as Messi played a fabulous one-two with Pedro Rodriguez and then later chipped a goal past Diego
Lopes to help the team lead the scoring.
Even with Barcelona leading the game, they were simply not done. The crowd had a lot to celebrate as Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez dictated the play in the midfield and pulled the strings of the game. Seydou
Keita came on for David Villa to add more muscle to the team during the last 15 minutes and the midfield was just too strong for Villarreal. Lionel Messi again found a wonderful cross from Pedro Rodriguez and made the score line 3-1 as he rounded off an extraordinary
performance from Josep “Pep” Guardiola’s team. With the win, the Spanish champions crawled right above Real Madrid on the points table as Jose Mourinho’s side still has to play the game away from home on Sunday.
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