Messi unstoppable against Cordoba in La Copa del Rey

With Messi on the pitch, Barca fans are assured of a few surprises from the Argentina star. The Catalans let their star player do what he does best and Messi let his actions do the talking on the pitch as a pugnacious Cordoba side tried every way possible to gain a foothold on this Cup draw. Two goals from the Argentine culminated the match and projected an image of footballing majesty to the world at the same time.
The Córdoba coach Berges was brave with his approach to last night’s match and why not, as he had little to lose. He asked his players to defend in their opponent’s half of the pitch and hit the nail on the head with this approach, as Barca would usually stick five goals past you for this. At few times they found themselves robbing Barcelona of the ball and goalkeeper Pinto had to intervene on several occasions to prevent the team from Córdoba gaining a foothold on the scoreboard.

Pinto had to be at full stretch to stop the bombshell of a shot from Lopez Garai going in the net and then watched in amazement as the Córdoba number 15 Pedro’s exquisite shot found the side netting which was heading for goal..
After those few warnings Barca, although they were facing an inferior team, were fully aware that it was not synonymous with an assured victory. Tito’s men slowly began to control the midfield with Xavi Hernández and Thiago Alcántara playing important roles with David Villa and Pedro in fine form, too.

First up was to try for Barca was Thiago, who hit the post as the ball was on its way in. Then after 11 minutes Messi found the net with a simple tap in assisted by David Villa. Villa thus ended the speculation and comments about his relationship with the Argentine as he generously gave the ball to his strike partner to finish it off. The “Flea” now seems to be scoring goals by inertia! But for Messi, this normal as he eats, sleeps and breathes scoring goals. He was born to do this and will keep on doing so until the record he has before him becomes his own!

With the Catalans a goal up, the home team played at their own rhythm. Córdoba wanted to please their fans in this historic game and every player gave his all and fought for every ball as if it were the last ball to fight for.

After half time and with the grass in a condition that was unworthy of a top-flight game, Cordoba could only try to keep Messi and his teammates away from the goal of Saizar. They succeeded to a certain degree, too but Pedro, Villa and Messi can be so unpredictable.

Messi missed a one on one with the rival goalkeeper who cam rushing out to meet him, but he never trips over twice on the same stone. A neat pass from Alexis saved Messi the job of another one on one with the keeper and finished in clinical style wrong footing the keeper and planting the ball to his left.

Everything was thus decided. The minnows Cordoba lost the match and couldn’t pull off a surprise but the players can go away with their heads held high after a terrific performance to the delight of their fans.