Barca on autopilot beats Valladolid by 3-1

An awesome Barcelona team put itself on autopilot tonight and showed rivals Valladolid its clinical finishing. Barca paid tribute to coach Tito Vilanova and the Catalan team, with assistant coach Jordi Roura on the bench, were true to their style and gave no option to the home side beating them 1-3 with goals from Xavi, Messi and Tello.

Javi Guerra scored the consolation goal for Valladolid, who were very attacking but could do little against a Barca team that once found its groove, were like a steamroller.

With David Villa on the bench again and Alexis making the first eleven, Barca went out in order to grab a win to give joy to their followers who have had a difficult week coming to terms with Tito’s relapse. With Villa on the bench, it’s starting to smell fishy and with Alexis not hitting the target, things are looking doubtful for him, too.

He messed up a few clear chances times in the Jose Zorilla stadium, which was unforgiveable and has started creating doubts amongst the Barca fans. Luckily the Catalan giants could call on Messi, Xavi, Busquets, Jordi Alba et al.
From the starting whistle, the home side tried to pressure Barca on their side of the pitch with Rukavina and Omar, but ended up giving in to what was blatantly obvious, the sheer power and quality of the current league leaders.

Alexis failed to find the back of an empty net from a Dani Alves assist coming in from the right and that just gave more hope to the home side.

Xavi and Thiago began to find their feet and provide more central play with Sergio Busquets stopping all potential danger in front of the penalty area and a sublime Dani Alves took command at the back in one of his best games so far of the season.

It was all one way traffic and it happened to be Barca’s and after a Messi free kick hit the woodwork, Xavi was there to send the ball to the back of the net in a team effort moments after. The Argentine held the ball waited for the arrival of Jordi Alba to his left, in one of his many runs into the opposition’s area to place a perfect ball between the goal and the defense to find Xavi at the far post to put the Catalans ahead just before the break.

After the break, it was much of the same with Alexis still failing to take advantage of the minutes he was getting on the pitch. On the 58th minute Messi found his scoring boots after warning the home side minutes before. Inexplicably Messi missed a one on one with keeper Dani Hernandez, but seconds later managed to atone for his sin!

Tito can rest easy
Barcelona got a bit carried away with the two goal advantage on the scoreboard, and started to showboat. Dani Alves, who found himself in a one on one with the keeper and everything in his favour to score, decided to pass the ball backwards!

The Brazilian lost the ball and Valladolid’s Javi Guerra pulled one back for the home side. Young Christian Tello, who had only been on the pitch two minutes, took advantage of an innocent Valladolid defense and found the back of the net. Tello did in 2 minutes what Alexis couldn’t accomplish in 90!

Finally, Tito can rest easy and focus on getting better and watch from the sidelines and enjoy his players who have learned their craft well.

Valladolid vs Barcelona 3 – 1 – Goals & Highlights Full HD