Valencia vs Barcelona review: Brilliance of Spanish football at display

Matched!!

What an exciting matchday it has been in Spain! After Real Madrid were held by Racing Santander and gave Barcelona a psychological advantage over themselves, Barcelona were held by an inspired Valencia team. At the end of the match everyone was unhappy and everyone was satisfied. Both the sides can feel with their performance, they could have won the game. But football lovers will feel good that Barcelona juggernaut can be held in style by a team, and that too by one who were not considered good enough.

Starting line up:

Valencia did not go for much of surprise in their line up. Coach Unai Emery employed similar tactics like what he did last year when his team almost held Barcelona but lost by just one goal. Using Jordi Alba and Jeremy Mathieu he wanted to exploit the gap created by surging Dani Alves and put Soldado as the lone striker with Canales behind him in front of double pivot of Albelda and Banega.

Guaita; Miguel, Vistor Ruiz, Adil Rami, Jordi Alba; Albelda, Banega; Pablo, Canales, Mathieu; Soldado.

What kind of formation Pep Guardiola wanted to field wasn’t clear even after he declared his starting XI. It looks he isn’t convinced yet whther Cesc Fabregas can perform in the normal three man midfield. This time again Pep went for 3-4-3 with Alves joining Messi and Villa on top.

Valdes; Mascherano, Puyol, Abidal; Busquets, Keita, Xavi, Fabregas; Alves, Messi, Pedro.

Instrumental!

Abidal Own Goal (12 min):

As the match started, Valencia team showed that they have done their homework properly. Pressing Barcelona all over the field and attacking with speed and menace, they made it clear that Barcelona were not going to have a stroll in Mestalla. Exploiting the gap in the right side of the field, they created their first big chance at the 12^th minute when the cross from left wing by Mathieu was not touched properly by Abidal and the deflection off his feet surprised Valdes to find the back of the net.

Pedro goal (14^th min):

Barcelona are not a team to sit back and watch when the opponents attack. Within 2 minutes of conceding the goal they hit back via Pedro who easily slot in a beautiful ball from Messi beyond Guaita. Masterclass was shown by Messi as he received the ball at the top of the box and kept three defenders glued to him and then passed the ball for Pedro to take behind them.

Pablo goal (23 min):

In a carbon copy of the first goal, Mathieu received a ball from Banega and put in a cross for Soldado that beat both Soldado and his marker Abidal to find Pablo free staring at the goal with just Victor Valdes at his mercy. Pablo finished off coolly to restore the lead.

Soldado miss

This time again this was from the left wing. Unai Emery’s plans were being executed well and it was seen for the third time in the first half an hour when another Mathieu cross beat all the Barcelona defenders to reach Soldado with an open net. But a slight touch from Valdes on the cross proved to be enough as a committed Soldado overran the ball and it hit him and went out of the open post agonisingly. It should have been 3-1 and that could have taken the match far away from Barcelona’s hands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRA1Daun9Jc&feature=player_detailpage

Te rest of the first half remained almost the same as Valencia continued to press Barcelona and did not let any of their attacks build up. In contrary, Valencia played extremely well on the counter attacks and looked threatening. Banega and Albelda controlled the midfield well while the wingers made occasional runs through the Barcelona defence. Barcelona wanted to build up their own game in their peculiar fashion but failed in front of resolute Valencians.

2^nd Half:

Barcelona reached the break in a really different situation. Their passing wasn’t working, Valencia found out the gap in the right side of the defence and it was not possible for the 3-men defence lineup to contain the speedy wingers and they were trailing. Soon in the second half Guardiola made two substitutions, putting in Villa in place of Pedro and Adriano in place of Keita who was not much visible in the first half. Villa drifted to the centre letting Messi play a more free role and combine with Cesc Fabregas while Adriano combined with Alves on the right and filled up the defensive hole without taking much out of their attack. Soon after that, Guardiola replaced Puyol by Thiago to go on all out attack in search of the equalizer.

The substitutes had immediate impact. A three man passing midfield of Busquets, Xavi and Thiago with Cesc and Messi just above them took control of the game. By the time, Barcelona were recovering their magical passes and in spite of brilliant play from the Valencian opponents, they grabbed the game in their hand. Unai Emery tried with more speed on the counter attacks bringing in Jonas and Pablo Piatti in place of Canales and Mathieu. They did well to go on a few brilliant counter attacks but Barcelona defence was ready for it this time.

Comeback,

Cesc Goal (77 min):

With the team desperate for a goal, Messi and Cesc Fabregas showed their understanding of each other, which was built in La Masia has not got any less. After trying a lot of things, finally Messi found Fabregas ahead of the defence with a brilliant chipped pass and Fabregas finished it coolly scoring his 4^th goal in 4^th league match which was a replica of what he scored against Osasuna in the weekend.

The next few minutes saw Barcelona trying their best to search for the winning goal but with some resolute defending and brilliant counter attacks from the opposite side, it only increased the quality of the match. Messi made a few brilliant runs and one penalty claim but nothing did change the scoreline. The match ended 2-2 but will remain in the memory of the viewers as due to the performances from two brilliant sides.

What after this?

For Valencia this result was very important, to give them confidence that they can fight against the big fishes in the league. Like this year, they led the league table previous year too. But a loss in the hands of the Blaugranas was the beginning of string of poor performances that threw them out of the pool of the big teams. They left the field with a lot of confidence, admiration and respect from the rivals and a top spot in the table.

For Barcelona the worry is not about the result, two points lost will not make much of a difference especially after the main rival Real Madrid also had a similar result at a much easier venue. But it is the way the defence was dismantled in the first half, even with ‘el capitan’ Carles Puyol at helm of it is a point to worry. However, the last 15-20 minutes will remain in the memory of the Barcelona fans showing how far the brilliance of the team can reach when needed urgently. This play can break up any good defending side, and destroy any parked bus.

This was one of those rare matches when both teams leave happy, fans are satisfied and football lovers have multiple orgasms speaking of this match. And guess what this has done to the infamy of lack of competition in Spanish football, especially when certain teams from a certain city called Manchester are running riots somewhere else. A top three of Valencia, Real Betis, Malaga after 4 weeks is a big bonus for Spanish football.