The Catalan Giants recorded their ninth consecutive victory as they eased past Real Sociedad on Sunday evening to go back to the top of the table. All thanks to another brace scored by the Argentinean maestro Lionel Messi and the three goals scored by David
Villa, Andres Iniesta and Bojan Krkic.
The Blaugrana wearing side are currently enjoying their best moment of the season and scored five in a game for the sixth time this year, including the 8-0 away win at Almeria.
On the other hand, the Barcelona goal stopper Victor Valdes managed to beat his own record of staying on the pitch without conceding a goal. Real Sociedad had a successful return to the top flight after spending four seasons in the second tier.
However, they just could not cope with the fluent Catalan side which completed just over 900 passes. Lionel Messi also continued to add to his outstanding goal scoring statistics as he found the back of the net for the 42nd time during the year 2010 and
for the 27th time this season.
Josep “Pep” Guardiola shuffled the team slightly as he named Eric Abidal alongside Carles Puyol in the heart of the defence, while the newly signed Liverpool midfielder and the Argentinean captain, Javier Mascherano began in front of the back four, in his favourite
position.
It was immediately evident that the change in formation and personnel made no difference to the Barcelona style of play and they managed to produce a great result just like the midweek last UEFA Champions League group stage fixture against Rubin Kazan. There
were only young players featured in that game and still Josep Guardiola knew how to play his cards as the Catalan Giants won the game 2-0 at the Nou Camp.
However, on Sunday, the whole first team featured and the first goal came after just eight minutes. It was a result of a fluid move that ended with the Spanish youngster Pedro Rodriguez crossing from the right flank towards David Villa and the Spanish goal
scoring machine just clipping the ball into the roof of the net from a very close range right at the far post.
The Spanish midfielder and the Barcelona magician Xavi Hernandez was at the top of his form during the game. While shining bright for his side during the 67 minutes that he stayed on the pitch he completed over 120 passes. Those statistics simply explain the
level of skill and accuracy that Xavi Hernandez provides to the team.
Moreover, his performance forced Real Sociedad to be on the back foot as they never really got much of the ball and never got the grip of the game either. Barcelona were simply at the top of their game throughout the game and that domination later helped
them score the second goal of the game and that too came with the help of Pedro Rodriguez.
The Spaniard couldn’t find the net on his own throughout the game but he still managed to impress with two assists. Pedro again became the provider and slid Andres Iniesta in down the right and the Manchegan slotted the ball inside Claudio Bravo's near post. It
was an outstanding finish and there was nothing that the Real Sociedad defence could do about it.
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