Javier Clemente made it tough for Barca on Saturday when they played Sporting Gijon. It was a very defensive team and Barca, despite having most of the ball, found it tough to unlock the keys to Gijon’s defense. Barca ended up winning 3-1 with the home side’s goals coming from Iniesta, Xavi and Keita. Messi was on the bench and Gerard Piqué was sent off in the 46th minute.
It was tough in the first half and the home side seemed to be stuck in second gear until Andrés Iniesta opened the floodgates on 41 minutes. Just after the start of the second half, Shakira’s toyboy Piqué got himself a red card which, was justified by all accounts, and left the home side with ten men.
Sporting Gijon were quick to capitalize on this advantage and substitute David Barral levelled the game for the visitors. This came as a real kick in the teeth and Guardiola responded by bringing about some changes in attack that finally paid off with a nice goal by Keita to restore Barca’s lead.
A lovely little chip by Xavi put the icing on the cake for a Barca team that found itself against the odds with ten men and without their little Argentine wizard to conjure up his tricks.
The game failed to end on a positive note as Alexis Sanchez looks like he’s going to be out of action for a couple of weeks with a groin strain.he left the field hobbling down the tunnel with a few minutes left to play on the clock. Alexis will be sorely missed as he has become a key player in the Barca team lately.
Next game is against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League this week before the Blaugrana’s head up to the north of Spain to Santander to face relegation troubled Racing.
