Barcelona beat Deportivo 2-0 thinking ahead to A C Milan clash

There seems to be some nervousness in the stands at the Camp Nou, two days before the clash against Milan. An almost full stadium played host to a Barca victory against a tame Deportivo side, which proved to be a low intensity training exercise for FC Barcelona. The Catalans didn’t need much more either and they failed to show if they have anything up their sleeve with which to beat A.C Milan on Tuesday. They need 3 goals to reach the quarter finals hoping that milan doesn’t score any at the Camp Nou.

The reasons for this unknown Barca just lately remain unresolved but it is obvious that one of the causes of their poor performances is the lack of freshness. Messi, Iniesta and Jordi Alba were rested, as they will most certainly be in the starting eleven for the Champions League duel. David Villa and Alexis Sánchez made the first eleven and could play in Tuesday’s starting lineup. The Chilean has the advantage over Villa as he scored against Deportivo.

Deportivo tried to catch Barca out on the counter-attack and the Catalans knew it. It was 1-0 and Deportivo looked like drawing the game until 2 minutes from time.

Dani Alves may be the man to pave the way for the comeback against Milan. The wingback took advantage of the spaces left by Alexis on his moves toward the centre. He was restless patrolling his wing and his was the pass that led to the goal by the Chilean on the 38^th minute, which opened the scoring.

The goal seemed to slow down Barca’s game to prove that the Catalans have become somewhat complacent in a League that is more or less won. Nevertheless, the Barca defense wasn’t compromised. A solid Carles Puyol stopped the offensive play from Oliveira, Pizzi and Valerón. The great captain with his gestures to his teammates stopped the defense from sleeping on their laurels!

Lack of motivation signaled the substitutions of David Villa and Cesc Fabregás, who came off for Leo Messi and Sergi Busquets.

With Barca playing at home, one cannot really draw conclusions, let alone a team like Deportivo who are at the wrong end of the table and who are the first team in 15 games that haven’t scored against them.

Messi seems to be the only Blaugrana undeterred. He played for twenty minutes and it was enough for him to find the net again in the 88^th minute – that’s 17 games in a row scoring a goal. The Argentine is a great leader and the man who should spearhead the Barca side to a dream comeback that seems like a nightmare the more you think about it.