Barca destroys Alavés in the first leg match of La Copa del Rey

Barca totally destroyed any hope of an Alavés comeback at the Nou Camp for the second leg by beating Natxo González’s boys by 3 goals to nil last night in their first leg match in La Copa del Rey.

David Villa was full of surprises and was intent on letting Tito Vilanova that he belongs in the starting eleven. It was Villa who opened up the scoring against Alavés and is finding his feet again after breaking his leg last December. It’s not easy coming back from that type of injury and Villa is out to prove everyone wrong.

With this result, Barca has more or less sentenced the draw even before Alavés comes to Barcelona to play the second leg and it gave Tito the chance to experiment with some different tactics with so much breathing space due to the goal difference.

The game for Barca went according to plan but we must afford some credit to Natxo González’s men as they endured a Barca attack which lasted 40 minutes and even set foot in Pinto’s area with a degree of danger.

From the outset, Tito fielded a side that was devoid of left-footed players with Montoya taking control of the left flank and Danni Alves on the right. Alves was also conscience of the fact that his first team place is in danger and therefore offered one of the best versions of himself this season so far. It’s amazing what a young guy from the youth squad like Montoya is capable of and Dani Alves knows it.

He crossed some lovely balls into the centre last night and finally was repaid when he provided the assist for Cesc Fabregás’ goal in the dying stages of full time. Marc Bartra played very well too, alongside Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano and quickly shut down any forward advancing Alavés players that may have caused danger.

Andrés Iniesta played well too but was late in finding his attacking game. Sergi Roberto showed some nice touches that would have made Tito happy and Alexis Sánchez, despite being very occupied and busy for most of the match, is still showing signs that his real form hasn’t been hit yet.

David Villa hit the target just before half time and the Blaugrana team was 1 goal up. After the break it was business as usual for Barca and Iniesta found the net on 50 minutes with a beautiful strike that was reminiscent of his goal against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. A truly great goal in which Andrés Iniesta could celebrate his 10 years in Barca’s first eleven.

Finally, with 88 minutes on the clock it was up to Cesc Fabregás to find the net. Cesc is playing great football at the moment and he is quite at ease at finding the back of the net as he is in providing assists for his Barca team mates. A great game in which Tito could experiment with younger players that leaves Alavés with a 3 goal margin to makeup when they visit Barca for the second leg.