January 13, 2010
Spanish Soccer- Barcelona Whipped Tenerife 5-0 and Recovered the Lead
By Ally White
Barcelona consolidated its lead in the Spanish league after defeating Tenerife 5-0 at the Heliodoro Rodriguez Lopez Stadium on Sunday. The victory was attained with three goals from superstar Lionel Messi, one goal of Carles Puyol and the other of Argentinean Ezequiel Luna, in the seventeenth round. Real Madrid (41 points) also won 2-0 at home against Mallorca and is now two points away from Barça. With this great win, the Culé is the only team that has not been defeated in the league this season. Barça and the Meringues have scored 42 goals in the season each; while Barça has received only 10 goals and Real Madrid 13.
The first 30 minutes of the game weren’t the swiftest for Barcelona. Tenerife had better chances of scoring. The home team completed 3 attempts that goalkeeper Victor Valdes stopped with versatility. Nevertheless after these dangerous plays, Barça reacted and found its way with Lionel Messi and Bojan Krkic at the helm.
36 minute into the game, Messi after a great play of Bojan scored to make it 1-0. Eight minutes later, Carles Puyol scored the second goal after a great header. Just one minute later, it was Lionel Messi again who with a brilliant shot took his second goal of the match.
In the second half, Barcelona was dominating the game completely while Tenerife couldn’t recover from the 3-0 deficit .The team seemed frustrated and anxious at times. Despite their efforts, Barcelona was better in the offense.
And just after 30 minutes, the Argentinean Lionel Messi scored again for the Azulgrana with a “hat trick” at minute 75, to make it 4-0. This was Messi’s third goal.
If this was not enough, Ezequiel Luna scored Barça’s fifth goal with 5 minutes to go, to end the game with an astonished 5-0 score.
At the end of the game, coach Pep Guardiola expressed his disappointment in the performance of his team in the first 30 minutes and said Tenerife was having some great options that could have changed the game, but the first goal made it clear it was going to be barça’s day.
“Until we scored our first goal there was only one team in it: Tenerife. They could have been leading by 2-0 or 3-0, but that didn't happen. They pressed us hard, man to man, and when that happens you have to play longer passes. We have to be more careful because all of our rivals are doing that now,” stated Guardiola.
On the other hand, Messi said he was happy with the three goals he scored and to achieve the win with his team. Bareclona has struggled in the first two games of the year by drawing with Villarreal in La Liga and losing against Sevilla in Copa del Rey, 2-1.
"The three goals are important but the win more so considering how we had begun the year," added Lionel Messi.
The next match of Barcelona in La Liga will be against Sevilla on Sunday, January 17th at Camp Nou, while Tenerife will face Almeria on the same day as visitors.
About the Author
Ally White has been a prominent writer on regular Spain Primera Division 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.