Friday, May 18th, 2012
So much for Lionel Messi’s three-match slump. The Argentine completed his third hat trick of the season within the first half hour of play and Barcelona never gave Mallorca any space to breathe afterward in a 5-0 victory in Camp Nou.
With Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas on the bench resting for their Champions League game midweek, and Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol coming on in the second half, Barcelona looked a little inconsistent in the midfield and a little uneven at the back, although it would have been hard to notice given the score.
Mallorca came out strong in the first five minutes, Joao Victor missing a clear chance directly in front of the goal in the fourth minute, having beaten Victor Valdes and instead sliding the ball wide left. Mallorca’s counterattack slowed, however, and the game settled quickly into Barcelona’s possession. Messi, in particular, was given lots of space in the midfield and ran through the middle of the pitch and into the area mostly unchallenged. And then in the eleventh minute, at the end of one of his runs, Messi chipped a ball over the back line and into Adriano, whose header flew into Emilio Nsue’s upheld hand. A penalty was given and Messi, who had missed a penalty against Sevilla one week ago in the Camp Nou, made sure not to miss this one. He drilled his shot into the top right corner of the net, putting Barca up 1-0.
In the 20th minute Barca doubled their advantage as Issac Cuenca, recently brought up from the youth team, made a quick burst down the right wing and beat Pedro Bigas into the area. He lifted a high cross to the far post and Adriano knocked the ball back across the goal to Messi, who unmarked directly in front of the goal, and he pushed the ball right-footed into the net.
After Messi’s second goal Mallorca ceded even more space to Barca in the midfield, never pressing or threatening on the counterattack. In the 29th minute Dani Alves intercepted a pass and knocked a bending cross in from the right wing, just inches beyond the back line for Messi to stick out his left leg and send the ball low down to the left of Aouate and into the back of the net.
Up 3-0 Barca settled into possession and Mallorca withdrew almost entirely into their own area. Valdes seemed to touch the ball more outside of the area than inside, and Barca’s back line never needed Alves to come back from his far forward position.
The second half began in much the same way the first half had ended, with Mallorca settling in their half and Barcelona patiently waiting for a chance to break through again. It didn’t take long. Four minutes into the second half Thiago’s ripped a through pass down the middle of the pitch into the area, so hard that a deflection didn’t change the pace of the ball. It reached Cuenca, who turned away from Aouate and chipped it in with his left foot for his first goal in only his second start for the Barcelona first team. In the 55th Messi almost added a fourth when he drilled a shot just high of the goal, and again in the 85th with a header off a long cross from Alves.
In the 88th minute Mallorca was given a free kick from a few meters outside of the area. The shot sailed high, however, and the resultant corner for the visitors kept the ball in front of Barcelona’s goal for the longest stretch of the game. But as the play shifted back into Mallorca’s half, in the 91st minute Dani Alves had a go from outside the area and struck a dipping ball above the keeper’s hands. Aouate, not far off his line, had no chance as the ball dipped and grazed the top of the crossbar before crashing down into the goal.
Despite the final score, Barcelona did not look all that much better than they have the past few games. The goals, especially from Messi, covered up a stilted midfield. Mallorca made no effort, whether by intention or not, to attack Barca, and so Dani Alves was able to stay high up on the right side (which is where he wants to play) without needing to come back and defend; Messi went through the midfield mostly uncontested uncontested and Valdes secured another clean sheet. Against most other sides this would not have been such an uneven game, and-what’s more serious than the goals-Barcelona will need to quickly figure out what exactly to do with David Villa. For their part, Mallorca ought to be having a serious look at how they want to move forward.
FT: Barcelona 5 (Messi (pen) 13, 21, 30, Cuenca 50, Alves 90+1 ) Mallorca 0
Maxwell Kuhl can be followed on Twitter here.
Tags: Barcelona, Mallorca, Messi
