Xavi Decides Granada Match

Barcelona FC had to work to beat La Liga minnows Granada at Los Carmenes, with a single goal thanks to Xavi. Xavi put his team in front with a 25-yard free-kick strike but apart from that Barcelona were no mean threat to Granada and Roberto’s goal. Pedro had to be taken off injured, with a suspected ankle ligament injury.

Surprisingly, Pep Guardiola chose to play Leo Messi and rest David Villa for the visit to Granada, despite calls for the little Argentine to be rested. Guardiola also gave a game to youngster Isaac Cuenca who became the 47th player to play under him and who started on left wing.

The game got off to a quick start as could be expected, and Uche picked up a yellow card within the first five minutes of play. Messi was played through on the fourth minute, but was caught off side.
It was Messi who had the first shot, bending the ball wide from the edge of the penalty area, and Cuenca promptly followed, though his effort wasn’t really a test for Roberto. Xavi then tested Roberto with a powerful long-range effort after 20 minutes of play, but no Barcelona player was up for the rebound.

Pedro found himself with a free header from less than 10 yards out, but he could not find the goal. It seemed that a bit of lethargy had entered the Barca team, but Granada were not posing any threat to them.
Then Jaime Romero made a rather rash challenge that resulted in a free-kick 25 yards from goal. Xavi positioned himself up and bent it into the corner of the net. A beautiful strike by little Xavi, although if truth be told, Barcelona’s play had not warranted a goal. With ten minutes to go Barcelona failed to impress and Xavi’s goal was just a consolation with no real merit.

The second half of the match was much like the first, but with less chances of goal. Jaime Romero then picked up a second yellow for a high foot and was promptly dismissed
Pedro was then tackled shortly after and picked up a knock on his ankle. It was a rather poor challenge, but the referee played on and when Pedro was finally stretchered off, it became evident that he had made a wrong call. Initial observations from the Barcelona medical team show no break, but further tests will be carried out today to make sure. It looks like Pedro will be sorely missed for up to two weeks.

An hour into play, and Barcelona’s front men hadn’t had a shot on target. Then, Granada’s keeper cleared the ball poorly and it went straight to Villa. He, in turn found Messi, who lifted the ball over Roberto, but Mainz got back in time to clear the ball off the line. Then Xavi played in Isaac Cuenca on 70 minutes, but the young player could only fire straight at Roberto.

David Villa continued with a string of poor passes and average shots, and more worryingly, Leo Messi has now gone over eight hours without scoring away from home in La Liga.
Granada were finally reduced to nine men in injury time with Dani Benitez seeing a red card for kicking the ball away after an offside decision went against him. This act of petulance will rule him out of the derby match with Seville FC this weekend.