Blue and Red were the only colours seen as the Catalan giants showed signs that their pre-season ratings were not a mistake.



Match Report: Saturday 12/01/2008 20:00 hours (GMT +1), La Liga, Match Day

FC BARCELONA - REAL MURCIA 4 - 0 ( 1 - 0 )
Stadium: Camp Nou, Barcelona

Capacity : 98,772
Attendance : 61,443

Referee: Carlos Clos Gomez


Goals :


1-0 Gudjohnsen ( 27' )
2-0 bojan ( 52' )

3-0 Eto'o ( 76' )
4-0 Eto'o ( 86' )


Cautions :


Yellow Card :


FC Barcelona : Henry ( 48' ), Zambrotta ( 61' )


Real Murcia : Pena ( 24' )


Line-up:


FC Barcelona (4-3-3): Valdes, Zambrotta, Thuram, Puyol, Sylvinho, Marquez, Xavi, Gudjohnsen ( Iniesta, 65' ), Bojan ( Giovani, 82' ), Henry, Eto'o ( Pedrito, 88' )

Manager: Frank Rijkaard


Real Murcia(4-4-2): Notario, De Coz, Mejia, Ochoa Arzo, 69' ), Pena, Pablo Garcia ( Inigo, 67' ), Movilla, Abel ( Richi, 79' ), De Lucas, Goitom, Baiano
Manager: Lucas Alcaraz


Match Report:


The skies were painted Blue and Red as the super stars of FC Barcelona ran riot, displaying perfect soccer to destroy visiting Real Murcia in an evening that produced four goals that all ended up in the Murcia net.


Barca had wanted to start this year with a remarkable result in their first match at Camp Nou, and this was the most impressive way to do it. Eto'o was also having his send-off match before jetting of to play the African Nations' Cup, so there was a lot to the occassion other than mere soccer.


The match started with Barca being in full control from the blast of the whistle, preferring to study the visitors in the early minutes. Soon, farewell boy Eto'o latched on to a chance in the 6th minute, but not finding the net. Bojan had another chance in the 13th minute, but it was not yet time for the goals to start raining. The Catalan giants kept on the pressure, with Thierry Henry on the left fast becoming a nightmare for Murcia's De Coz, while Bojan Krkic was on the right to cause second nightmares for the Murcia defence. Eto'o prowled at the centre and was always a threat even when not with the ball. It was only a matter of time before the goals started to come. In the 27th minute, Xavi and Zambrotta combined beautifully before Zambrotta lobbed the ball toward Thierry Henry, who swept aside two defenders and left them stranded as the ball floated to Gudjohnsen who zoomed in to crash the ball into the net for 1-0 to Barca.


It was pressure galore from Barca afterwards, with the referee looking to help Murcia by not awarding penalties to Barca even when Murcia players handled the ball in the area, and needlessly stopping play when nothing was clearly wrong. Eto'o missed a good chance in the 42nd minute, but his goals were yet to come.


The second half saw a close chance missed by Murcia's Baiano, who went face to face with Keeper Valdes, but the custodian was equal to the task. An even more organized and determined FC Barcelona team was all over Murcia, with Thierry Henry rolling the ball just inches past the Murcia goal I the 50th minute. Henry was to return soon again as in the 52nd minute, the Frenchman swerved his way into freedom and located Bojan who made no mistake in slamming home the second goal. Goal machine Bojan had made it 2-0 for FC Barcelona.


Bojan surfaced again in the 64th minute and combined with Eto'o to almost make it three goals up. The third goal did come. In the 76th minute, Henry again waltzed through the area and sailed down the left flank, setting up Samuel Eto'o for goal number three.


Eto'o returned in the 86th minute to receive a pass from intelligent soccer display through substitute Giovani dos Santos. The Cameroonian finished off the ball to make it 4-0. The match ended with that scoreline, but not before Eto'o ws given a standing ovation by the entire stadium after the striker was replaced by debuting Pedrito, as Eto'o leaves to join Cameroon in the African championship.


My Comments:


Great football by FC Barcelona and a nice way to say they are ready for the challenges of 2008. Thierry Henry is pure magi and Eto'o simply a sensation. Bojan Krkic is a revelation and the entire team hitting the expected form we all want to see. Three strikers seem to be doing the trick for Barca rather than just two strikers.


With three home matches this week at Camp Nou, the Catalan giants should be up for three victories, with the next victory expected against Sevilla CF in the Copa Del Rey second leg clash in Camp Nou on the 15th day of January. Barca just have to keep winning and hope that teams like Real Madrid will slip. Only Barca possess the ability to win all their remaining matches in the La Liga and win all they can and should.