A recap of Barcelona's strong 4-0 win against APOEL, featuring another record-breaking night for Lionel Messi.
FC Barcelona are now in a hot streak of not only wins but great performances, as the Blaugrana went to Cyprus and simply dominated APOEL, winning 4-0 in convincing fashion. Another record-breaking hat-trick from Lionel Messi and the first official Luis Suárez goal as a Barça player secured a strong victory for the Blaugrana. From start to finish, the Catalans were the far better team, and Messi made history once again. For the second straight game, it was all about the Leo Messi Show.
| APOEL | Barcelona | |
| Possession | 26% | 74% |
| Total Shots | 3 | 20 |
| Shots on Target | 1 | 7 |
| Corners | 0 | 7 |
| Fouls | 14 | 3 |
| Offsides | 3 | 2 |
| Yellow Cards | 3 | 3 |
| Red Cards | 1 | 1 |
Against a team that had conceded only once in each of their first four games, it was expected that Barcelona would have problems with APOEL's strong defensive unit, especially if they "parked the bus". Despite the necessity of goals, coach Luis Enrique decided to bench one of his best strikers, Neymar, who was late to a practice a few days ago and received some sort of punishment by not playing on Tuesday, in a very Bill Belichickian move by the Blaugrana boss. Enrique also rested Xavi, Busquets and Mathieu, made the usual switch on the goalkeeing spot, and started Stegen, Alves, Piqué, Bartra, Alba, Mascherano, Rakitic, Rafinha, Messi, Suárez and Pedro for the game. Would this mixed group perform well or would the rotation system used by the coach result in a flawed performance?
***
In the early going, the team showed that the great performance against Sevilla was not going to be an outlier. Barça started the game with a lot of intensity, high-pressing on defense and a lot of movement between the forwards. Leo Messi started as a right-winger, but constantly switched positions with Luis Suárez and Pedro, which confused the opposing defenders and blew up whatever defensive assignments APOEL could have drawn before the match started. One of those switches combined with the high-pressing led to Barça's first chance, that saw Messi miss a one-on-one opportunity in front of goalkeeper Urko Pardo, who made a nice save. A few minutes later, Leo went back to the right-wing, made a great play and delivered a picture-perfect pass to Luis Suárez, but the Uruguayan came up short.
Behind the forwards, Rakitic and Rafinha had a slow start, but as the game went on, they became more and more comfortable with each other and improved the passing game. Dani Alves and Jordi Alba were consistent in their trips to the offense, and stretched the pitch, which started to open holes in the middle. In the 22nd minute, Messi exploited that, and delivered a beautiful lob pass to a lightning fast Jordi Alba, who stormed into the box but also missed his shot.
The defense, the great cause of concern since the first loss of the season, against PSG, was very good. Piqué and Bartra did everything right, from positioning to anticipating plays and cutting off passes. Mascherano proved once again that he's a reliable piece in the pivot slot. The Argentine floated nicely between the backline and the midfield, and conducted the early stages of the offensive possessions with a good mix of short and long passes.
At the beginning, Barça were more dangerous on the right side, but the opening goal happened on the left. Jordi Alba found Luis Suárez with a nice through ball, and El Pistolero finally arrived. With a spectacular body turn, Luisito left center-back Guilherme totally lost, entered the box and delivered a soft (and slightly deflected) right-foot touch to score his first official goal in a Blaugrana shirt.
After the score, Barça never lost its intensity, and kept pressing APOEL into staying close to their own box. Their only shot in the first half was a Gustavo Manduca left-footer that probably went out of the stadium. When Barça had the ball back, the Blaugrana showed a little more patience in the passing routines; with a goal scored, they never lost their urgency, but the desperation didn't happen. More comfortable on the pitch, Rafinha started to become a factor, and he became part of history close to halftime. After an individual play from Messi, the Brazilian decided to attempt a shot on goal, and it was the right decision: the ball found the right foot of Messi, who was just onside to deflect the shot and make history. Seventy-two goals in the UEFA Champions League, most in history. King Leo added another piece of jewelry to his beautiful crown.
A beautiful way to cap off a very impressive first half. There was more to come...
***
Barcelona came back to the second half with the same lineup that started the game, and the performance was even better than what we saw in the first 45 minutes. Barça totally controlled the actions, with the three forwards switching slots even more, and the three midfielders finally settled into a rythm and set the tone in the passing department. The Blaugrana never stopped shooting, and APOEL's strong defense could not catch a breath.
Dani Alves, up to that point, was the only real outlier in the game, possibly the least effective Barça player. Bad decisions on defense (Messi and Rakitic had to run back to cover him in a counter-attack a couple of times) and horrible shots on the other side were shaping up to be another depressing showing by the Brazilian. But his football IQ is still gigantic. In one little moment of brilliance, he delivered a sensational through ball that found Messi in front of the goal. Leo didn't disappoint, and scored his second of the game, putting Alves in the assist column. Three-nothing Barça with an hour of play. Easy win already in the books, and now it was just about bringing it home.
But one imature and stupid decision threatened to worry the Blaugrana. Rafinha, who was already booked for an unnecessary tackle in the first half, committed another inexplicable foul on a hard challenge, and was sent home early with a red card. It forced Luis Enrique to put in Xavi and Sergio Busquets to strengthen the midfield and maintain dominance of the game.
Thankfully, both Xavi and Busquets played well, maintained ball possession and kept the match under control. APOEL's only chance came in a counter-attack, but ter Stegen made his only important save of the match, a nice effort to keep the sheet clean. The hosts subbed in a third center-forward to try to get a miraculous goal, and actually put pressure on Barça for a few minutes. But the Catalans resisted that brief pressure and the match went back to the usual pace.
And then came the decider. A beautiful exchange of passes resulted in Mascherano finding Pedro in the box. Pedro then found Messi, who scored his third goal of the game, delivering a rare right-foot hat-trick. Only Leo could do that in a record-setting night.
Another win, another impressive performance. Can Barça please keep doing that every game? It would be nice.
Up next, it's one more very difficult test. None other than Valencia, who have played extremely well and are always a tough challenge for Barça, especially in the last few years.
Until then, let's appreciate one more special night. Another Leo Messi Show. Visca Leo! Visca el Barça!
| Roll Call Info | |
|---|---|
| Total comments | 435 |
| Total commenters | 44 |
| Commenter list | Anders Thomassen, AraibKarim, AzBlaug, Barca Boy, BartraFTW, Bingiboy, Black&Gold.Forever, Catalan_Blood, CifuentesErick, Daxterflames, Eddie Pundell, FCBMessi, KiwiBarca, MessiLeftFoot, Navz, PG9, Piquénbauer, Rajesh1101s, Renato Goncalves, Richzorz, Ruubruub, Steven Cordero, ThreePar, Uncharted_Almo, Yuro_Doosh, abdulla0207, ade fox, askhanna, capoerista.fiu, craig00000, david.james, defeaning_silence, feeya7, messism, milesbarca, msalmanz, newinterest, pranaydhone, robyn_bird96, rumbaughd1, semperty, sudama.baraily, tilak, uday kakoti |
| Story URLs | |
| # | Commenter | # Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barca Boy | 53 |
| 2 | KiwiBarca | 51 |
| 3 | Renato Goncalves | 51 |
| 4 | Navz | 31 |
| 5 | Anders Thomassen | 29 |
| 6 | abdulla0207 | 23 |
| 7 | Daxterflames | 21 |
| 8 | AraibKarim | 18 |
| 9 | Ruubruub | 13 |
| 10 | feeya7 | 13 |
| 11 | Yuro_Doosh | 12 |
| 12 | MessiLeftFoot | 12 |
| 13 | Bingiboy | 10 |
| 14 | ThreePar | 9 |
| 15 | milesbarca | 9 |
| 16 | CifuentesErick | 9 |
| 17 | PG9 | 8 |
| 18 | tilak | 8 |
| 19 | defeaning_silence | 6 |
| 20 | uday kakoti | 5 |
| 21 | askhanna | 4 |
| 22 | Piquénbauer | 4 |
| 23 | Uncharted_Almo | 4 |
| 24 | craig00000 | 3 |
| 25 | FCBMessi | 3 |
| 26 | david.james | 2 |
| 27 | msalmanz | 2 |
| 28 | Black&Gold.Forever | 2 |
| 29 | capoerista.fiu | 2 |
| 30 | Eddie Pundell | 2 |
| 31 | Rajesh1101s | 2 |
| 32 | Steven Cordero | 2 |
| 33 | Richzorz | 1 |
| 34 | rumbaughd1 | 1 |
| 35 | ade fox | 1 |
| 36 | BartraFTW | 1 |
| 37 | semperty | 1 |
| 38 | pranaydhone | 1 |
| 39 | sudama.baraily | 1 |
| 40 | newinterest | 1 |
| 41 | messism | 1 |
| 42 | AzBlaug | 1 |
| 43 | Catalan_Blood | 1 |
| 44 | robyn_bird96 | 1 |
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