Comeback and goals ahead of the Cup (7-2)

This Saturday, FC Barcelona exacted revenge on Vilanova. On matchday 13, Barça’s rival in the OK Liga is the only team to draw against the Catalan side at the Palau Blaugrana in the whole competition. Today, after an even first half, the Barça side showed their dominance and took the win.

The game started with Barça clearly dominating a CP Vilanova side that closed itself off at the back and bided their time in the hopes of scoring on the counterattack. At the start, the Barça keeper had to, on more than on occasion, make timely saves; at the other end, however, Luis Gil was shaping up to the be hero of his team with two fantastic saves.

With a strong defence and a fantastic keeper, Vilanova took the lead thanks to a goal from Oscar Martinez on five minutes. It was time to fight back at the Palau once again. Four minutes later, Torra took it upon himself to bring Barça level with a deftly placed penalty shot. It was Torra that could have scored the go-ahead goal, but his shot went wide after a brilliant collective Barça play. The pace of the match was frantic and the Barça manager decided to rest key players like Borregan and Pandero, the most active Barça players.

Broken match

The back and forth between the two sides made the game attractive for the spectators, but neither  side could capitalize on the numerous counterattacks. Rodriguez, with a free hit, warned Vilanova that Barça was close to scoring, but it was Farncesc Gil, with a long-range shot, that gave the visitors the lead.

In the last minutes of the first half, the keeper Luis Gil kept Vilanova on top when he saved multiple Barça shots. Aitor Egurrola, managed to save what would have been Vilanova’s third goal when he stopped three consecutive counterattacks. The game was completely broken and both sides were close to scoring, halftime came, however, with 1-2 on the scoreboard.

Barça dominates

At the start of the second half, Gaby Cairo’s men came out with one thing in mind: turning the match around. Vilanova hadn’t utilized much of a rotation system in the first half and the question was whether or not the players could keep up the high pace they showed in the first half. It couldn’t have started better for Barça, in the first minute of play, Torra, against from the penalty spot, brought Barça level. In the play after Torra’s goal, Borregan assisted Panadero and Barça was in front.

Good play and a shower of goals

Against an exhausted rival, the Azulgranas showed off their best play on offence at the Palau and they closed the match out in a matter of minutes. Gual, in a spectacular individual play, crushed Vilanova’s hopes of winning the match when he scored Barça’s fourth. Torra kept the part going with Barça’s fifth with an excellently-placed shot. Vilanova, however, could have cut into Barça’s lead when they were awarded two penalties, but Egurrola did well to deny the visitors on both occasions. Alvarez, at the end of the match, bagged a brace to put his team up 7-2.
With this result, Barça stays atop of the table with 43 points. After 15 played matches, Barça remains unbeaten and has only conceded one draw. Now it’s time to focus on Tecnol Reus Deportiu, Barça’s King’s Cup quarterfinal rival.