A single goal from Adriano takes care of Valencia

adriano celebrates his goal

FC Barcelona beat Valencia (1-0) at the Camp Nou last night, despite the constant harassment from the visiting side. The Catalans were content with a one nil lead as it meant three points but nearly ended up paying a high price as a chance from Victor Ruiz in extra time went begging. Tito did not have Iniesta and Busquets as starters but newcomer Alex song did feature in the starting lineup.

Three out of three matches

The club kept its perfect record in the league and leads the table after beating Valencia with a solitary goal from Adriano at the Camp Nou. Barca coach, Tito Vilanova, who watched the game from the sidelines as he’s suspended, made new signing Alex Song a starter and had on the bench Iniesta, Busquets and Jordi Alba. Cesc Fabregas also formed part of the starting lineup in midfield.

With these changes to the team, Barca took a while to get a grip of the game and Roberto Soldado was the first to test the Blaugrana keeper Victor Valdes with a powerful shot from outside the box.

Gradually, the club was finding ways towards the goal of Alves, whose reflexes were tested by Argentine maestro Leo Messi with a header. After the first 20 minutes, the game began to fade, but then Adriano popped up to break the stalemate. The Brazilian received a short corner kick and went off towards the edge of the area where he struck the ball beautifully which flew past the Valencia keeper to his left and into the top corner of the net – truly Unstoppable.

The goal left Pellegrino’s team dumbfounded and Barca could have extended their lead, but were too forgiving. Pedro had a one on one with Alves and Cesc Fabregás skimmed the woodwork with his tussle with the Valencian goalkeeper. Messi also made the Valencia defense work hard with a nice run, but nothing came of it and referee Pérez Lasa blew for half time.

Less than ambitious second half by Valencia

In the second half, Valencia were not as ambitious as in the first half and gave little threat to Barca who had just to maintain the engine at idle speed to deal with any Valencia advances and keep the scoreline at one nothing. Fabregás nearly made it two nil after some nice play by Alexis Sanchez and Adriano, who also came close to his second goal of the match.

Pellegrino then made some changes and brought on Viera, Gago and Valdez – changes that hardly made any difference and changes that never threatened to alter the modest scoreline. Only in the final minutes of the match, Victor Ruiz left the Camp Nou with their hearts in their mouths with a cracking header that nearly beat an onrushing Valdes that mis-timed his run.

About Barca Blogger

My name's Steve aka Barca Blogger and one of the founding members of the team at Barcelonafcblog.com. I've been around since the blog started and we aim to bring you the most up to date information on this great club.

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  1. Información Bitacoras.com…

    Valora en Bitacoras.com: All that was needed to beat Valencia was a single goal from Brazillian Adriano just after 20 minutes that went flying into the top corner of the net. Valencia played well in the first half but faded away in the second althoug…..