It seems that David Villa made a point last night on the pitch at the Nou Camp. He deserves a starting place in the Barcelona first eleven. It’s true, Messi scored two goals in the win against Rayo Vallecano, but David Villa again seized his chance to get a goal and be the striker once again who signed for the best club in the world.
After much talk about the relationship between Villa and Messi and after looking very closely at their gestures toward each other, the two Barca stars put their money where their mouth is and did their talking on the pitch for greater effectiveness. They exchanged assists and goals in Barca’s victory 3-1 against Rayo. They allowed Madrid to continue thirteen points behind them in the table and prolonged the joy they’ve had this week by beating A.C Milan after a treacherous few weeks of poor performances.
Rayo, who lost some key players due to sanctions, put on a brave face from the starting whistle. They didn’t want Barcelona to feel comfortable in their own stadium and put pressure on the Catalans who had to resort to a few long balls and having to counter attack on several occasions, something that eventually killed off the team from Madrid.
The variety of resources that Barca disposes of had Rayo in a state of despair, who saw quite clearly that it wasn’t enough to just take the ball from Barca.
Adriano was injured in the first half and will be out between four to six weeks.
Sergio Busquets did not allow Rayo to move the ball around in the centre move in midfield and Iniesta made several passes that Barcelona was not able to take advantage of. Still, the first goal from Barcelona was against what the manuals usually say.
Messi took the ball in midfield with a perfect touch and ran up more than three quarters of the pitch and had several options before deciding to assist David Villa so that he could bury the ball. The keeper, in his attempt to cover as much goal space as possible, could only turn in disbelief to see how Villa slotted the ball home. The David Villa – Leo Messi connection made no mistake.
Just before the break, Adriano’s injury gave way to the presence of Alves on the right, who combined with Alexis along the sidelines to drive Arbilla crazy who undoubtedly had nightmares after about the Chilean!
Shortly before half time, Messi scored the second for the Catalans after an assist from Villa in the danger zone. The play began on the left side of the area and Messi showed that his goal scoring ability is lethal. The players left the field thinking that the Villa-Messi connection was starting to work again.
The second half began with a shot at the post from Alves after a shot from inside the area continued by a masterpiece from Messi. We often forget that the Argentine is only human and we take his goals for granted and quickly forget that he has scored now on 18 consecutive occasions.
After a quick sprint from midfield, Messi managed to leave behind his marker and found himself on a one on one with Ruben, the keeper. Messi caught the ball with great precision that ended with the third goal on the scoreboard and an ovation from the Camp Nou. Rayo Vallecano’s defenders could only scamper after the little Argentine and collect the ball from the back of the net. It was now 3-0 and Barca was on a roll.
The Rayo keeper then had to intervene on numerous occasions in order to keep the scoreline at 3-0 in the final minutes of the game.
The end of the match saw the debut of young Isaac and Tamudo’s goal. It was only a consolation goal, but the former Espanyol player did not fail to find the net at the Camp Nou. He wasn’t well received by Barca’s fans but Tamudo didn’t mind that.
As we have said, this was Jordi Roura’s last game without Tito. Roura has done an impeccable job with the team despite a few knock backs. Tito should be proud of him!
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