After a host of international matches involving their players, tired Barcelona fall to fresh Villarreal squad.


Match Report: Saturday 20/10/2007 20:00 hrs (GMT +1), La Liga Match Day 8
VILLARREAL - FC BARCELONA


Stadium: Estadio El Madrigal, Spain

Capacity: 23,000
Referee: Mejuto Gonzalez, Manuel Enrique


Goals:

1-0 Caezola ( 3' )
2-0 Senna ( 13', pen. )

2-1 Bojan ( 25' )
3-1 Senna ( 35, pen. )


Cautions:

Yellow Card :


FC Barcelona - Milito ( 33' ), Deco ( 63' ), Xavi ( 72' )


Villarreal - Capdevila ( 53' )


Possession:
FC Barcelona - 63%

Villarreal - 38%


Corner Kicks:
FC Barcelona 1

Villarreal 0


Shots on Goal ( On Target ):
FC Barcelona 12 ( 6 )

Villarreal 9 ( 4 )



Line-Up:

FC Barcelona (4-3-3): Valdes, Oleguer ( Giovani, 46' ), Puyol, Milito, Abidal, Xavi, Iniesta, Deco ( Gudjohnsen, 71' ), Messi, Henry, Bojan ( Sylvinho, 80' )
Manager: Frank Rijkaard


Villarreal(4-4-2): Viera, Fuentes, Cygan, Javi Venta, Capdevila, Bruno, Marcos Senna, Cani ( Angel, 89' ), Pires ( Matias, 69' ), Carzola, Guille Franco ( Tomasson, 79' )

Manager: Manuel Pellegrini


Match Report:
Things in Camp Nou have never been quite the same ever since the camp was deserted by most of its first team players who were away on international duty, playing a marathon of two matches each in most cases. The unsettled nature of the Blaugrana players was compounded after Barca went down 3-1 to hosts Villarreal to suffer the first defeat of the new season.


Signs showed early when Villarreal went ahead in the very 3rd minute of the match. Guille Franco played a superb flick with his in-step behind the Barça defence and Santi Cazorla curled the ball into the far corner of the net.


Barça stepped up bravely, not shaken by the early goal. Soon after the goal, Thierry Henry created an opportunity by finding some space down the left flank, but the combination of play with the forward liners did not result in an equalizer. Instead, it was Henry's former Arsenal teammate, Robert Pires that made the next impact in the 11th minute when he skipped into the area in front of Éric Abidal and went down after contact was made. Villarreal's Senna stepped in the 12th minute to score the resulting penalty and put his team 2-0 up.


FC Barcelona were still in the scheme of the things despite the 2-0 scoreline, with some good exchange of passess among the players. It soon paid off in the 25th minute, when Messi laid the ball into the area and goal machine Bojan Krkic beat Javi Venta to the pass before guiding his shot inside Sebastián Viera and into the net via the near post. As well as pulling the Blaugrana back into match, Bojan also became the youngest player to score in the league in Barça's history at 17 years and two months of age.


Barca came more into the game after Bojan's goal, with Xavi coming closest to scoring with a long drive that was stopped by Villarreal's keeper Viera. Things took another nose-dive in the 34th minute when Pires raced into the Barca 18 yard box and feigned heavy contact with Gabriel Milito. Pires went down and despite protests from the Blaugrana, the referee awarded the hosts their second penalty of the night within a space of 24 minutes. Senna stepped up once again to score the penalty and give Villarreal a 35th minute 3-1 lead.


The second half begun with Giovani dos Santos coming in for Oleguer, in an effort by coach Rijkaard to put more pressure on the yellow submarines' defence by more attacking football. Giovani lived up to expectation by causing some unnerving moments for Villarreal.


Deco was in control of the midfield, creating good opportunities but the stubborn yellow defence did not allow any positive outcome from such moves. Unfortunately, Deco's evening ended in a bad way as he pulled up chasing a ball and had to be replaced by Eidur Gudjohnsen, with early reports suggesting that he may have torn a muscle at the top of his leg. Gudjohnsen held his own in midfield, but with so many opposition players in front of him was unable to change the shape of the encounter.


In the closing moment Dos Santos headed over and Andrés Iniesta had a drive, but still the Yellow Submarine stood firm against the barrage. Despite all their efforts, Barça were unable to find a route to victory in El Madrigal and went down to their first defeat of the season.


My Comments:

The international matches played over the week have taken their toll on the players. Evidently missing was Ronaldinho, who didn't make it back on time for the match. Others like Messi, Milito, Giovani, Henry, Abidal and others were still reeling from the knocks of playing steamy encounters for their countries, and couldn't quite click as the last time Barca played thir La Liga match in brilliant form against Atletico Madrid.
However, Villarreal still played a good game and have maintained consistent form since the season commenced. Pires took the most advantage of his presence in the Barcelona 18 yard box, and the Catalan giants would have most certainly equalized if the second penalty was not awarded.


Considering the factors that worked against FC Barcelona, the Blaugrana have nothing to be too worried about. Big teams like Real Madrid also went down in defeat after donating most of their players to international duties with the likes of Robinho out of place and Sneijder and co. simply eclipsed by an inspired Espanyol after Raul Tamudo drove in the second goal for the Catalan rivals of Barca. FC Barcelona still maintain a two point gap behind league leaders Real Madrid.