La Liga - Barcelona brush aside Atletico

Eurosport - Sun, 20 Sep 10:48:00 2009

Barcelona romped to a 5-2 victory over Atletico with an imperious first-half display at the Nou Camp to maintain their 100 per cent record in La Liga.

FOOTBALL Lionel Messi Barcelona La Liga - 0

Zlatan Ibrahimovic opened the scoring in only the second minute with his third goal in three games, before Lionel Messi (pictured) added a second to cap a sublime move.

Dani Alves lashed home a 30-yard free kick to make it three on the half-hour, before Seydou Keita made it four after more trickery from Messi.

Sergio Aguero netted a consolation goal on the stroke of half-time with a clinical finish but, despite an 85th minute strike from Diego Forlan, Barcelona regained their three-goal advantage with Messi's stoppage-time second.

The opening goal was supremely slick with Ibrahimovic taking Sergio Busquets's through ball in his stride before stabbing his shot past Roberto in the Atletico goal.

The second goal was an exquisite move with Keita, Thierry Henry and finally Xavi finding each other in space before Messi's precise finish left the keeper flat-footed.

After Messi was scythed down by Tomas Ujfalusi, Alves had one thought in his mind. His fierce low shot zipped under Roberto's dive and the Brazilian wheeled away to celebrate his side's third.

Barcelona could have had a penalty as Ibrahimovic was hauled down by Pablo Ibanez, but the referee took sympathy on the visitors by controversially awarding a corner.

But Pep Guardiola's side were not to be denied their fourth, and it was perhaps the gem of the collection. Ibrahimovic flicked the ball up to Messi who took it down before dancing nonchalantly past Luis Perea and picking out Keita who simply tapped the ball into an unguarded net.

The second half was played at a much more pedestrian pace with neither side able to create the clear-cut chances so abundant in the first.

Messi almost bundled his way into the Atletico box after a pacey run through the centre of the field but Ujfalusi made an impeccable tackle.

The Argentine was then put through by an incisive through ball from Henry which bisected the two Atletico centre backs, but Roberto was out sharply to intervene.

Forlan, who was a strangely subdued presence for the visitors for most of the match, pounced on a loose ball in the Barcelona half to drive an emphatic finish past Valdes in the 84th minute.

Atletico's second goal looked to have added some respectability to the scoreline, but Messi rounded off another wonderfully-worked team goal to add his second and Barcelona's fifth.

Atletico have just one point from their first three matches, while the champions further consolidate top spot with their third victory in as many games.

Goals from Alvaro Negredo and Frederic Kanoute gave Sevilla a 2-0 win over Osasuna in their La Liga clash at the Estadio Reyno de Navarra.

Negredo opened his account for the club in the 27th minute before Kanoute added a second in the second half to put the match beyond doubt.

Adriano powered his way to the right byline before he cut back a precise cross from which Negredo stole in to slot home at the back post.

Kanoute was given a starting spot in attack by Sevilla boss Manolo Jimenez with Luis Fabiano unavailable, and the former Tottenham forward drilled a low shot under Ricardo to double the visitors' lead in the 71st minute.

Sergio then became the third Osasuna player to be shown a red card already this season in the 82nd minute as he scythed down Diego Perotti.

The win gives Sevilla six points, along with Real Madrid, Valencia and Athletic Bilbao while Osasuna's first win of the season remains elusive.

Real Mallorca are second above that quartet after the islanders cruised to a 4-0 victory over Tenerife.

Espanyol dragged themselves off the foot of the table with 3-2 win at Deportivo Coruna and Racing Santander earned their first league win of the season by overcoming Malaga 2-1 away.

Dan Quarrell / Eurosport

Comment 3 - 22 of 22

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  1. com 14! lionhell! what U writing is simply untrue!­ Franco was supported Real Madrid! There was a load of­ cheats and every illegal treats was maded! Visca el­ Barca!!!

    From damnsoldja, on Sun 20 Sep 1:33PM

  2. After this match, honour to Inter for Inter-Barca­ 0-0...

    From Matteo, on Sun 20 Sep 11:10AM

  3. That should have been: "Franco is more preferable­ THAN the Communists"

    But lets get back to­ football. Barcelona are an outstanding side, and could­ well be the first club to retain the CL Trophy.

    From VW, on Sun 20 Sep 10:50AM

  4. People bang on about how many the Right Wing have­ killed, but neglect to mention how many the Left Wing­ (Communists) have killed.

    Franco was more preferable­ to the communists.

    From VW, on Sun 20 Sep 10:45AM

  5. OOOhhh my God you spanish people make me sick with your­ politics and your Franco history.......The rest of the­ world dont care about your past your present or your­ future of your politics.........We care about your­ football...and thats it........all you spanish people­ talk about is politics. all the time..Thats how boring­ and miserable your life is.........and yeah...haha­ madrid.....hahahahahaha madrid....we hate­ madrid....hahahahahahahahahaha antimadrid hahahaha...ha­ ha madrid.

    From peterpale006, on Sun 20 Sep 10:34AM

  6. why are all these spanish people writing on this board­ and dragging up a civil war which finished 70 years ago­ ? surely they have Yahoo forums in Spain to keep­ dragging up ancient history when talking about a­ present day football match ?

    From michael b, on Sun 20 Sep 10:20AM

  7. Noob, Franco's men may of killed barca president.­ Because he was a rival party leader. Not for football­ reasons! I love barcelona, but quite simply Madrid have­ the better history with more success! Stop making­ excuses for us and accept that we will always try to­ take the lead. As for Franco being second worst person­ behind Hiter. GROW UP!!!! Millions were killed by many­ more people!

    From d.papas, on Sun 20 Sep 8:14AM

  8. Dere is best among best.barca is simply d best club in­ d whole world.

    From chimaadagbon, on Sun 20 Sep 7:59AM

  9. whatever it is...what i know is....barca won and­ thrashed atletico last night...

    From eevernc, on Sun 20 Sep 7:01AM

  10. Di Stefano's case was a sign and proof of what kind­ of a club would do that.....win at any cost!!!

    From marilacson, on Sun 20 Sep 5:39AM

  11. well mister indonoob post 13, during franco reign­ barcelona has won more titles than real madrid. plus­ franco was an atletico madrid fan first and there is­ very low evidence that he had anything to do with the­ team's results. after all real madrid already had­ the best players of the league and did not really need­ franco to win anything on the pitch

    From lionhell, on Sun 20 Sep 4:52AM

  12. "A month after the civil war began, Barça­ president­ Josep Suñol was murdered by Franco's­ soldiers near­ to Guadalajara. Fortunately, the squad­ was on a tour of­ Mexico and USA, which although it­ proved the financial­ saving of the club, also resulted­ in half the team­ seeking exile in Mexico and France.­ On 16th March 1938­ the fascists dropped a bomb on the­ club's social­ club and caused serious damage. A­ few months later,­ Barcelona was under fascist­ occupation and as a symbol­ of Catalan nationalism, the­ club, now down to just­ 3,486 members, was facing a­ number of serious problems.­ In March 1940 a close­ collaborator with the Franco­ regime, Enric Piñeyro,­ marquès de la Mesa de Asta was­ appointed President. At­ the same time, the name of the­ club was changed from­ its anglicized original Futbol­ Club Barcelona, to the­ more Spanish Club de Fútbol­ Barcelona,(a change which­ was finally reversed in­ 1973), and the four red bars­ of the Catalan flag on the­ coat of arms were reduced­ to two, the original not­ being put back until­ 1949."

    Here are more facts who­ real madrid is­ and who franco was.

    From indonoob, on Sun 20 Sep 1:55AM

  13. VIVA LA BARCA, LETS SEE WHAT MADRID WILL DO, IF THEY ­ LOOSE THAT WILL GIVE BARCA A PUSH TO THE TOP­ :D:D:D:D:D:D:D

    From mike.sabbah, on Sun 20 Sep 1:39AM

  14. NOOB-- Franco was indisputably Evil. Stalin murdered­ over 40,000,000 of his own people. Not sure if he was a­ Football fan.

    This is about Barca being the best and­ most enjoyable team to watch in the world. And it's­ a wide gap to #2 right now. In the spring it might be­ diferent.

    Barca are the Best Team in the world. Most­ of the people involved with those CL titles in the­ 50's are dead and buried. Let it go.

    From matt L, on Sun 20 Sep 1:33AM

  15. 142."During the dictatorships of Primo de Rivera­ and­ (especially) of Francisco Franco, all regional­­ identities were openly suppressed (e.g. the peripheral­­ languages were officially banned). So FC Barcelona­­ became more than a club (més que un club) for­ Catalonia­ as a defender of freedom and one of its­ greatest­ ambassadors. On the contrary, for most of the­ Catalans­ and many other Spaniards, Real Madrid was­ representing­ the sovereign oppressive centralism.­

    However, during­ the Spanish Civil War itself,­ members of both clubs,­ like Josep Sunyol and Rafael­ Sánchez Guerra, suffered­ at the hands of Franco­ supporters.

    During the 1950s­ the rivalry was­ exacerbated significantly when the­ clubs disputed the­ signing of Alfredo Di Stefano, who­ finally played for­ Real Madrid, thanks to the help of­ Franco, who­ transfered him to Real Madrid by­ "royal­ decree" after playing three games with­­ Barcelona's shirt, who was the key in the­­ subsequent success achieved by the club. The 1960s saw­­ the rivalry reach the European stage when they met­­ twice at the semi-final stage of the European­­ Cup."

    This is the fact, Franco helped madrid. He­­ even helped madrid get di stefano from Barca, because­­ he was a Barca player, but thanks to Franco, madrid­ got­ di stefano, and stole 5 CL trophies for madrid.­ Here is­ the truth, Franco is the second worst person­ ever,­ behind Hitler.

    From indonoob, on Sun 20 Sep 1:10AM

  16. Remember when Atletico were Barcelona's bogey team?­ That feels like a long time ago.

    From Kearney, on Sun 20 Sep 1:08AM

  17. 2 madrid clubs (getafe, atletico madrid) down, one to­ go (real madrid). Don't worry real madrid, you are­ next, we will beat all madrid based clubs.

    From indonoob, on Sun 20 Sep 12:28AM

  18. Barca keeps going on and on, watch the full highlights,­ just google "totalfootballmadness"

    From Guru, on Sat 19 Sep 11:20PM

  19. GO BARCA

    From JOHNNYG2, on Sat 19 Sep 11:15PM

  20. It's not hala madrid, it's haha madrid, because­ they are a club to be laughed­ at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!! It's not hala madrid, it's haha madrid,­ because they are a club to be laughed­ at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!! It's not hala madrid, it's haha madrid,­ because they are a club to be laughed­ at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!! It's not hala madrid, it's haha madrid,­ because they are a club to be laughed­ at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!! It's not hala madrid, it's haha madrid,­ because they are a club to be laughed­ at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!! It's not hala madrid, it's haha madrid,­ because they are a club to be laughed­ at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!! It's not hala madrid, it's haha madrid,­ because they are a club to be laughed­ at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!! It's not hala madrid, it's haha madrid,­ because they are a club to be laughed­ at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!! It's not hala madrid, it's haha madrid,­ because they are a club to be laughed­ at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!! It's not hala madrid, it's haha madrid,­ because they are a club to be laughed­ at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!! It's not hala madrid, it's haha madrid,­ because they are a club to be laughed­ at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!! It's not hala madrid, it's haha madrid,­ because they are a club to be laughed­ at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!! It's not hala madrid, it's haha madrid,­ because they are a club to be laughed­ at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!! It's not hala madrid, it's haha madrid,­ because they are a club to be laughed­ at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From indonoob, on Sat 19 Sep 11:12PM
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