Article by Stephen Lars
FC Barcelona had a good start in the 2010-2011 La Liga as the defending champions with an easy 3-0 win over Racing Santander. The game was filled with much energy and some outstanding plays by the Blaugranes.
Barça made it quite evident from the kick-off that they were going to bring all they had to win their third consecutive La Liga championship. They have a very efficient squad, filled with talented players, and as if that was not enough, they also have a very technical play strategy. Racing Santander was not much of a contestant and despite their efforts at the end they had to stay back and defend most of the time.
This game was played at the El Sardinero Stadium in the outskirts of Santander. From the start, Racing was having some issues moving its lines forward. Barcelona on the other hand took advantage of this deficiency to bring on their offensive arsenal closer to their opponent’s goal.
The Catalans had the possession of the ball. They displayed their ruthless game strategy and in a quick action managed to open the score after only three minutes game. Andres Iniesta made a successful pass to teammate Lionel Messi. The Argentine striker was on hand to score the goal, after crossing the passive defense and surpassed Racing’s goalkeeper Tono Rodriguez.
After this entry, Racing Santander began to defend itself and tried to tie the score. Midfielder Bakircioglü Kennedy was the first to really get close, if not because his shot went slightly off. The ball was lost to the Swede right in front of Manuel Arana, who launched a powerful shot that Victor Valdes stopped deftly to the side of his goal.
Racing’s defense was able to stay ahead while trying to protect themselves from attacks by its opponents. This gave them a chance to catch several balls, which gave them some options to attack.
Barca’s Messi made a combination along with David Villa, the most recent hire in Barca’s team, to counter their opponents. These two strikers, with their rapid progress and its constant shots, kept Racing’s goalkeeper extremely busy.
The keeper managed to block one great shot, but unfortunately for him, the ball bounced right back to Andrés Iniesta who managed to made a slow and steady shot that rolled back into the goal.
Just two minutes later, Racing had the opportunity to put one up in the scoreboard, when Barca’s defense left some space for local Maxwell Francis Perez and they had to foul him inside the penalty box. The goalkeeper broke the illusions of his rivals and impressively caught Mohammed Tchité’s penalty kick.
Right before the first half came to an end with a 2-0 lead for the visiting team, Barcelona came close to increasing their lead with a goal from Villa, but the referee considered he was off-side. Messi also tried, but his shot went slightly wide.
In the second half, the Racing looked tired because of the large effort they had made in the first half. Meanwhile Barcelona did not diminish their level of play and after 62 minutes the score was 3-0 thanks to an accurate header from David Villa. He certainly made a good first impression with the team.
The match’s fate was already decided. Barcelona remained constant in its rhythm. The Racing ended the final minutes trapped in the defense. After the victory Josep Guardiola’s players scored their first three points in the Spanish La Liga championship.
About the Author
Stephen Lars has been a prominent writer on regular International Football games, sports news and the sportsbetting industry for many exceptional sports web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.
April 1, 2011 5:39 am | 