Villa adds the fifth as Barca premieres in style

The new Barcelona of Tito Vilanova played its first official match with a conclusive and emphatic win that was rounded off by David Villa when he came onto the field to mark the fifth goal eight months after his leg-break injury.

With assists from young Tello and goals from Messi the match was duly sentenced in the first half, whereby the defensive naivety of Real Sociedad helped the premiere of the new Barça era under Tito Vilanova.

With goals coming from captain Carles Puyol in the first 3 minutes, then a brace from Messi, the match was rounded off nicely with a goal from Pedro and finally the cherry on the cake by David Villa.

It’s been three months since the end of the 2011-12 season, Pep Guardiola has left to live in New York and Barcelona has begun a new cycle under the hand of Tito Vilanova. However, for Leo Messi, life goes on at Barça.

Barça resolved their league debut against Real Sociedad (5-1) in the first quarter of an hour, the time it took for the Argentine star reactivate himself and remind the world that he is still king!

Without Iniesta or Piqué but with an awesome Messi who was very well supported by Tello and Pedro, Tito’s boys shot Real Sociedad down and destroyed their attacks whilst creating play for themselves.

The game started quite strangely too as often happens after a period of no activity for a while. Puyol opened the scoring with a header from a corner from the first piece of attacking play and five minutes later Illarramendi put through ‘Chory’ Castro for the Uruguayan to shoot down Valdes with his left boot.

Messi never fails

The joy of Real Sociedad was short lived however as Messi popped up to find the net twice on the rebound and make it a conclusive 3-1 to Barcelona.

Real began just as courageous in their attack after the break and just as candid in their defense as in the first half. Castro had a low shot that went past the post and in reply, Messi almost put Pedro through in the opposite penalty area.

Barca, however, followed their plan as usual – to wear and tire the opponent with the eternal ball possession they play so well. It’s strange but if Pep was there instead of Tito and Jordi Alba wasn’t on the pitch then this could have been any game from last season.

The return of David Villa

Villa came on for Pedro for the the last quarter of an hour and the Nou Camp fell apart, but no more so than when, with seven minutes to go, Villa himself made the fifth goal, after combining with Iniesta. It’s been eight long months since the guy from Asturias in the north of Spain broke his tibia and he was anxious to put it all behind him – the goal was the icing on the cake for the striker.

Villa then dedicated the goal to his wife and daughters, whose faces he had printed on a T-shirt, and went straight to the Barca bench to embrace Emili Ricart, the physiotherapist who has been his mentor during the long road to recovery.

A great start to a great season ahead and some fine displays. With Messi fresher than ever, this could be one hell of a season for Barca.