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Match

Marcador del partit

Date: Saturday, 01 Nov
Competition: ???label.competicio0???
Stadium: La Rosaleda, Málaga

Resultat:

Málaga CF: 1
FC Barcelona: 4

Match report

Match Report
Pre-Match

Match Report

More info

Goals

0-1 Xavi (min 5)
1-1 Duda (min 12)
1-2 Messi (min 19)
1-3 Xavi (min 53)
1-4 Alves (min 81)

Barça shine through the rain (1-4)

Jordi Clos

Barça have notched up their eleventh win in a row on a rain-soaked pitch in Malaga. Xavi, scoring twice, Messi and Alves all put their mark on the game.

Barça’s unbeaten run continued tonight in a rain-soaked Rosaleda stadium after torrential rain had been falling all over the Andalusia region in the hours leading up to the game. Through hard-work and effectiveness, Barça have notched up their eleventh win in a row despite the water-logged pitch. Xavi and Messi gave Barça an early advantage, and then in the second half, another from Xavi and an own-goal from an Alves free-kick brought yet another Barça goal spree.

Uncertainty about the pitch

It was touch and go whether the game would go ahead after so much rain had fallen, but at eight o’clock the pitch was declared playable on. Despite the state of the turf preventing speed and precision, the game got off to a lively start, with both sides fighting hard and going for goal.

Another lightening start

Barça struck the first blow in the 5th minute when Xavi scored from a direct free-kick. Yet Malaga, who also came to the match on good form, pulled back with a magnificent shot from Duda in the 12th minute. Guardiola’s men found it difficult to impose their game. In one of their attempts to build up a move, Messi received the ball in the area and put it beyond keeper Arnau’s reach.

A decisive 1-3

The game slowed down for a period while the rain eased off. Barça took control, although they were operating mainly in midfield and having problems linking to Eto’o. The team gained depth with the arrival of Thierry Henry, who played a part in Barça’s third goal. Henry managed to kill a cross from Eto’o with his head, laying the ball at Xavi’s feet, who accordingly obliged by making it 1-3 with his left foot in the 53rd minute.

Alves insistent

With a 1-3 lead, Barça kept up the pressure without taking any unnecessary risks. In the 66th minute, Alves tried a repeat of the goal he scored against Almeria from a free-kick, but he hit the post. The Brazilian tried once again in the 81st minute, and this time a deflection from a Malaga defender made it 1-4. This was the cherry on the cake in another goal spree for a team who now have eleven consecutive victories behind them (seven of them in the league).

Preview

Previous encounters

The last time Barça visited La Rosaleda was in the 2005-06 season, a game that ended goalless. That was the season that Barça went on to win the second league title of the Rijkaard era.

In the last seven years that Malaga were in the first division (between 1999-2000 and 2005-06) Barça tended to find the going tough at La Rosaleda, only winning twice, while drawing four matches, though only losing once.

Duel of two form teams

Anna Segura

Barça face Malaga tonight (20.00, Barça TV, PPV and R@dio Barça), a side that is enjoying excellent form and is currently sixth in the table. But Barça will be looking for a win that should send them to the top of the table, should Valencia fail.

This would be the eleventh win of the season for Josep Guardiola’s men, but the trip to La Rosaleda brings them face to face with a Malaga side that struggled early on in the season, but is now in the hunt for UEFA Cup places.

A job to be done

Barça’s pursuit of the top of the table comes against a team that was only promoted back into the top flight last season, but recent encounters between the sides at La Rosaleda have traditionally posed all kinds of problems for Barcelona.

If Barça win, attention will switch to Valencia, the early pacesetters, who play immediately after at 20.00 at home to Racing Santander. If Barça win and Valencia can only draw or are defeated, then the Catalans will top the table for the first time this season.

Not overconfident

Manager Josep Guardiola has once again pointed out that his side has to ensure they don’t consider the three points to be won before the job has been done. They are up against a side that has just returned to the first division after two seasons in the second, but history counts for very little when we observe that the side coached by Antonio Tapia is on a four-match winning streak, with Sevilla among the victims.

Back after the cup

The game in Malaga is Barça’s fifth in two weeks, and they have four more to come almost immediately after in the league, cup and in Europe. After that there will be another international break starting on November 17.

So on their last outing to face Benidorm in the Copa del Rey, Guardiola preferred to rest several of his players, namely Valdés, Iniesta, Bojan, Messi and Xavi, as well as Henry, who had gastric trouble, but is now well again and has been included in the squad for Malaga.