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Match

Marcador del partit

Date: Saturday, 08 Nov
Competition: ???label.competicio0???
Stadium: Camp Nou, Barcelona

Resultat:

FC Barcelona: 6
R. Valladolid: 0

Match report

Match Report
Pre-Match

Match Report

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Goals

1-0 Eto’o (min 12)
2-0 Eto’o (min 30)
3-0 Eto’o (min 42)
4-0 Eto’o (min 44)
5-0 Gudjohnsen (min 71)
6-0 Henry (min 83)

Immense Eto’o, immense Barça (6-0)

Jordi Clos

Samuel Eto’o scored four goals before Eidur Gudjohnsen and Thierry Henry added one each to give Barça a convincing victory against Real Valladolid and return to playing at their best in front of an adoring Camp Nou crowd.

Remaining adjectives are thin on the ground to describe Barça at their best this season and on Saturday evening Pep Guardiola’s side swept to victory against a stunned Valladolid outfit who were beaten before the half-time interval. It took 45 minutes for Eto’o to single-handedly put the result beyond doubt with four goals in the opening period. Far from believing that was enough though, the team continued to go forward and added another two goals in the second half.

Opening effort

It did not take the home team long to show that they were in the mood and as they started with the defence playing very high up the field to let the forwards push on. In the tenth minute Gudjohnsen and Messi had chances to put Barça ahead, but it two minutes later before the deadlock was broken when Eto’o cut in to the area and beat Sergio Asenjo with his left foot from close range.

Valladolid pushed up

With the first goal scored Barça were able to enjoy themselves more and Valladolid chose not to change to a very defensive formation and continued to try and find a way past Gerard Piqué and Rafa Márquez. But by doing that they allowed the Blaugrana more time and space to play their own game and Eto’o took advantage.

The second goal

The Cameroonian striker took until the half-hour mark before he was able to claim his second and it came when Henry’s shot was palmed out by Asenjo and Eto’o volleyed through a crowd and into the net. Barça had found their rhythm and Messi and Henry were playing very well and opening up Valladolid. The French forward had another chance son after the second goal and was denied by Asenjo.

Eto’o adds two more

With half-time approaching, Eto’o still had not finished and he scored two goals in three minutes. The league’s top goalscorer slid the first under Asenjo in the 42nd minute and then pounced on a deflection to slot the ball inside the near post in the 44th minute.

Remaining focussed

Valladolid may have felt deflated at the break, but they made two changes at the start of the second half and came out looking brighter. Barça however, may not have been playing at the same tempo as they had before the interval, but they nevertheless showed an attacking prowess that led to more goals. Touré Yaya, Eto’o, Xavi and Rafa Márquez all had chances to add a fifth but in the end it was Gudjohnsen that hit the target as he clipped the ball over the approaching Asenjo with 20 minutes remaining.

Six of the best

Eto’o was given the honour of a standing ovation after being taken off before the end shortly before Messi thought that he had scored in the week when he was visited by Diego Maradona, but his effort was ruled out for offside. A sixth was not long in coming though as Aliaksandr Hleb edged into the box behind the Valladolid defence and he clipped a pass across the face of goal and Henry was able to take a touch before hitting the ball into the net.

Preview

Top after 52 games

FC Barcelona are defending top spot 52 games after the last time they had to. That last occasion came on May 13, 2007 when the Blaugrana drew 1-1 at home With Real Betis.

The leaders are in action

Jordi Clos

After a superb run of form FC Barcelona are now sitting in first place in the Primera table and on Saturday evening the team will begin to defend that position when Real Valladolid visit Camp Nou (22.00, Barça TV, La Sexta and R@dio Barça).

On the day that Pep Guardiola celebrates sixth months in charge of the Barça first team, his side go into the tenth game of the league season as leaders and that is something that has not happened for over a year-and-a-half. Seven consecutive victories have meant that the Catalan outfit are in first place as they prepare to take on Valladolid and that run was supplemented by wins in both the Champions League and the Copa del Rey. Before the game against Basel in midweek, the run of straight wins stretched to eleven matches and many of them had been won in convincing style with an average of 3.75 goals-per-game.

Without Iniesta or Abidal

That run ended when Barça were held to a draw by Basel, but apart from seeing two points not collected, the team remained on top of Group C of the Champions League. The game did bring some bad news as Andrés Iniesta suffered a muscular injury that is set to keep him out of action for between six and eight weeks. The match against Real Valladolid will be the first encounter that the Blaugrana play with the Manchego-born playmaker, who has been described as "irreplaceable" by his team-mates in recent days. Neither he nor Éric Abidal will be able to play after the French defender will remain sidelined for another three weeks.

A lesson to be learned

Even though the visit la Pucela looks to favour Barcelona, the team will not be taking anything for granted. After drawing with Basel, lessons have been learned, and the Blaugrana will have seen Valladolid's comeback against Sevilla last weekend which showed just effective they can be when they are allowed to press forward. José Luis Mendilibar's team head to Camp Nou in 14th place in the table and the visit to Barcelona represents another chance for the side to record their first away win of the season. Until now they have played four games on their travels and lost all of them.

Valladolid do not have a bad record at camp Nou as they have managed to win once and draw on three occasions in their last eight visitors. Last term they did not do so well however, as they lost 4-1 to the Blaugrana and on Saturday the hosts will be hoping for a repeat of that scoreline.

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