FOOTBALL Live

Sunday May 4, 2008 Finished

Logo 6 - Logo 0

Barcelona

  • Messi 5’
  • Xavi 8’
  • Henry 14’, 58’
  • Bojan 73’, 79’

Valencia

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Barcelona
    • Valencia
    • 90' The referee has mercy on Valencia by blowing the final whistle soon after the time ticked over the 90 minutes, and Barcelona have delivered some tonic for their disappointed fans. It might all be for nothing if Real Madrid win at Osasuna though. That match is coming LIVE in just a few minutes, so stick around!
    • 88' Joaquin shows great skill to come in from wide and weave through two men to get into the box, before Puyol slides in with a perfectly-timed tackle.
    • 83' The ball is flicked forward towards Angulo who lifts it over Valdes and into the net! Oh dear, he was offside!
    • 79' GOOOOOOOOOL! Unbelievable stuff! Messi slips the ball through a flat-footed, dejected Valencia defence for Gudjohnsen to chase, and he has all the time in the world to square a ball across the face of goal for Bojan to follow up and fire home his second of the match! Where are those white hankies now?
    • 78' Joaquin has the chance to salvage some small scrap of pride for Valencia as he stands ready to strike a free-kick. He takes a pop, and it goes straight into the wall.
    • 74' Another senior player who Koeman decided was surplus to requirements, Miguel Aungulo, comes on to replace Villa.
    • 72' GOOOOOLAZZOOOOO!!! Some great build-up play from Barcelona ends with a perfect defence-splitting pass from Deco that bojan controls and fires past Hildebrand! Quite simply, a wonderful goal!
    • 68' Valencia waste a free-kick opportunity and Messi emerges with the ball and breaks. Mata cynically brings him down, but escapes the booking.
    • 65' The last thing Valencia want right now is for a young, super-talented and ambitious upstart to come on and run riot. And that's exactly what's happening now, as Eto'o goes off for Bojan.
    • 59' GOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! Messi feeds Henry on the edge of the box. Henry turns the ball onto his right foot and fires a wonderful effort into the top corner! It's a very subdued celebration from Henry, who just plods away from goal with his head bowed. Let's just all marvel at how enigmatic he is, shall we?
    • 56' An interesting substitution here, as Caniera makes way for David Albelda, who has not appeared for Valencia since Ronald Koeman announced that he would never play for the club again in November. Albelda is still pursuing legal action against the club in order to get himself released from his contract. Isn't it amazing how much damage one man can do in such a short space of time?
    • 54' Barcelona have eased off the pedal since the restart, content to keep possession and frustrate Valencia. But now Henry links onto a Deco through ball and STRIKES FROM DISTANCE... Good save Hildebrand!
    • 50' The referee now books Marchena too, after the Valencia midfielder lunges in on Henry.
    • 47' Eto'o goes into referee Alberto Mallenco's book for a challenge on Mata. If you're a Barca fan it was clumsy. If you're a Valencia fan in was nasty.
    • 46' Ruben Baraja has been replaced at half-time by Edu, so it seems that Valencia are determined to try and attack their way out of this mess. The second half is underway!
    • 45+1' Half-time at the Nou Camp, and things are going from bad to worse for Valencia. If Barcelona are going to lose the title tonight, then they seem determined to go down in style.
    • 45+1' Henry leaves Miguel for dead and fires a ball across the six-yard box that Eto'o just doesn't react to quickly enough.
    • 43' Despite being 3-0 up, Leo Messi is still busting a gut to win the ball off of Miguel deep in the Valencia half. They now have a corner. Deco gets his cross in at the second attempt and MESSI IS FREE AT THE FAR POST... His diving header is off target!! There was nobody within three yards of him!
    • 41' Xavi turns after receiving a throw in and shoots on the half-volley... Straight at Hildebrand.
    • 39' David Silva has a specualtive effort deflected behind for a corner. The set piece doesn't beat the first man. No goals for over 20 minutes now - Boring!
    • 37' Rafa Marquez is the first Barca player to be booked for a foul on Mata in midfield.
    • 32' Henry lifts a loose ball over the top and Messi is onto it! He has Caniera breathing down his neck and Hildebrand slides out to palm the ball away mid-air! This is some of the best linking up between Messi and Henry since the latter arrived from Arsenal. Perhaps a promising sign for next season.
    • 30' Thierry Henry runs across the back four and loses his marker. Deco feeds the Frenchman who turns and SHOOTS FIRST TIME... Saved by the feet of Hildebrand!
    • 28' Messi turns and goes on one of his mesmeric runs. He has a pop from the edge of the box, but it's blocked by Albiol's shins.
    • 23' Eto'o goes to ground in midfield and Carlos Marchena blasts the ball at his head and gets a direct hit! That hasn't gone down well with the home fans. We don't condone that kind of behaviour on the pitch, but it did have a certain element of slapstick humour.
    • 23' Henry almost beats Miguel with a sublime touch to control a long ball, but the Portuguese defender just manages to get his tackle in. Voro looks a concerned man on the Valencia bench, and no wonder. His new dawn for Los Che lasted all of one match!
    • 19' Valencia's move forward ends with Mata's cut-back cross finding no white shirts and Barca break again. Valencia look so fragile every time the home side come forward. Neither Marchena nor Baraja are providing any kind of protection for the back four.
    • 14' GOOOOOOOOOOL!! Henry slips a trough ball into the path of Eto'o. Shades of offside but no flag. Henry continues his run and Eto'o pulls it back and HENRY SIDEFOOTS PAST HILDEBRAND!! Three goals in 15 minutes! The Barca fans were waving the white hankies before kick-off, what a reaction the players have given to that! It's looking like a repeat of the 5-1 mauling at Bilbao two weeks ago for Valencia!
    • 12' Xavi chases down a ball down the right to the byline and wraps his boot around it to cross in... Hildebrand catches well with Henry virtually unmarked behind him!
    • 9' GOOOOOOOOOOOOL! Valencia commit too many forward and Barca can break! Henry is tackled as he tries to complete a one-two with Eto'o but the ball falls to XAVI... He blasts it low past Hildebrand and Valencia are two goals down within 10 minutes!
    • 6' GOL! Leo Messi calmly strokes the ball into the bottom right-hand corner to give Barca the early lead!
    • 4' PENALTY!! Messi runs straight at goal and Alexis desperately lunges and brings him down! alexis gets a booking - Why not a red? Replays show that the foul appeared to be outside the area, but it's too late now. Messi will tkae the penalty himself...
    • 1' Henry, Messi and Eto'o all start for Barca, but Iniesta, Milito and Toure are all injured. Valencia have almost a whole squad to pick from, though Timo Hildebrand is in goal ahead of Santiago Canizares, who has announced he will leave the club at the end of the season. Los Che get us underway at the Nou Camp!

  • Team Stats

    Barcelona Stats Valencia
    58% Possession 41%
    17 Shots 6
    12 Shots on target 2
    0 Saves 5
    7 Corners 5
    14 Fouls 15
    0 Offsides 2
    3 Yellow cards 3
    0 Red cards 0
    18 Tackles 17
    541 Accurate passes 364
    71 Bad passes 42

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Barcelona
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Víctor Valdés 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
      21 Lilian Thuram 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 44 1 3
      4 Rafael Márquez 0 0 0 5 1 0 0 50 5 2
      22 Eric Abidal 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 49 16 3
      11 Gianluca Zambrotta 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 38 1 1
      5 Carles Puyol 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 56 1 4
      20 Anderson Deco 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 79 13 1
      6 Xavi Hernández 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 84 12 2
      19 Lionel Messi 1 5 3 1 8 0 1 55 4 1
      9 Samuel Eto'o 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 15 2 1
      14 Thierry Henry 2 4 4 1 2 0 1 39 11 0
      15 José Edmílson 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 16 4 0
      27 Bojan Krkic 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 8 1 0
      13 Jose Manuel Pinto 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      23 Oleguer Presas Renom 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      7 Eidur Gudjohnsen 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 6 0 0
      17 Giovanni dos Santos 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      16 Sylvinho Mendes Campos 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    • Valencia
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      13 Timo Hildebrand 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0
      5 Carlos Marchena 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 38 3 4
      12 Marco Caneira 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 17 3 0
      23 Luis Miguel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 0 3
      20 Delgado Alexis 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 25 2 0
      21 David Silva 0 1 0 1 4 0 0 44 6 1
      4 Raul Albiol Raul Albiol 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 24 0 3
      8 Rubén Baraja 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 37 2 3
      17 Joaquín Joaquín 0 3 1 0 3 0 0 37 1 0
      7 David Villa 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 22 5 1
      16 Juan Manuel Mata García 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 34 8 0
      10 Miguel Ángel Angulo 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 6 1 0
      22 Edu Daud Gaspar 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 29 11 0
      6 David Albelda 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 22 0 2
      19 Javier Arizmendi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      1 Santiago Cañizares 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      15 Ivan Helguera 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      14 Vicente Vicente 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

  • Summary

    • 79' GOOOOOOOOOL! Unbelievable stuff! Messi slips the ball through a flat-footed, dejected Valencia defence for Gudjohnsen to chase, and he has all the time in the world to square a ball across the face of goal for Bojan to follow up and fire home his second of the match! Where are those white hankies now?
    • 72' GOOOOOLAZZOOOOO!!! Some great build-up play from Barcelona ends with a perfect defence-splitting pass from Deco that bojan controls and fires past Hildebrand! Quite simply, a wonderful goal!
    • 59' GOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! Messi feeds Henry on the edge of the box. Henry turns the ball onto his right foot and fires a wonderful effort into the top corner! It's a very subdued celebration from Henry, who just plods away from goal with his head bowed. Let's just all marvel at how enigmatic he is, shall we?
    • 54' Barcelona have eased off the pedal since the restart, content to keep possession and frustrate Valencia. But now Henry links onto a Deco through ball and STRIKES FROM DISTANCE... Good save Hildebrand!
    • 43' Despite being 3-0 up, Leo Messi is still busting a gut to win the ball off of Miguel deep in the Valencia half. They now have a corner. Deco gets his cross in at the second attempt and MESSI IS FREE AT THE FAR POST... His diving header is off target!! There was nobody within three yards of him!
    • 32' Henry lifts a loose ball over the top and Messi is onto it! He has Caniera breathing down his neck and Hildebrand slides out to palm the ball away mid-air! This is some of the best linking up between Messi and Henry since the latter arrived from Arsenal. Perhaps a promising sign for next season.
    • 30' Thierry Henry runs across the back four and loses his marker. Deco feeds the Frenchman who turns and SHOOTS FIRST TIME... Saved by the feet of Hildebrand!
    • 14' GOOOOOOOOOOL!! Henry slips a trough ball into the path of Eto'o. Shades of offside but no flag. Henry continues his run and Eto'o pulls it back and HENRY SIDEFOOTS PAST HILDEBRAND!! Three goals in 15 minutes! The Barca fans were waving the white hankies before kick-off, what a reaction the players have given to that! It's looking like a repeat of the 5-1 mauling at Bilbao two weeks ago for Valencia!
    • 9' GOOOOOOOOOOOOL! Valencia commit too many forward and Barca can break! Henry is tackled as he tries to complete a one-two with Eto'o but the ball falls to XAVI... He blasts it low past Hildebrand and Valencia are two goals down within 10 minutes!
    • 6' GOL! Leo Messi calmly strokes the ball into the bottom right-hand corner to give Barca the early lead!

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco

  • Barcelona

    Manager: Frank Rijkaard

    Starting line-up

    • V. Valdés
    • G. Zambrotta
    • C. Puyol
    • L. Thuram
    • S. Sylvinho
    • R. Márquez Yellow Card
    • H. Xavi Goal
    • L. Messi Goal
    • S. Deco Yellow Card Substitution Out (79′)
    • T. Henry Goals×2
    • S. Eto'o Yellow Card Substitution Out (67′)

    Subs

    • 22. E. Abidal
    • 7. E. Gudjohnsen Substitution In79′
    • 13. J. Pinto
    • 15. J. Edmilson
    • 23. J. Oleguer
    • 17. G. Dos Santos
    • 27. K. Bojan Substitution In67′ Goals×2

    Injured

    • 10. R. Ronaldinho
    • 8. A. Iniesta
    • 3. G. Milito
    • 24. Y. Touré

    Suspended

    None

  • Valencia

    Manager: Salvador González Voro

    Starting line-up

    • T. Hildebrand
    • L. Miguel
    • R. Albiol
    • R. Alexis Yellow Card
    • M. Caneira Substitution Out (54′)
    • C. Marchena Yellow Card
    • R. Baraja Yellow Card Substitution Out (45′)
    • S. Joaquín
    • D. Silva
    • J. Mata
    • D. Villa Substitution Out (75′)

    Subs

    • 1. S. Cañizares
    • 15. I. Helguera
    • 6. D. Albelda Substitution In54′
    • 10. M. Angulo Substitution In75′
    • 22. E. Gaspar "Edu" Substitution In45′
    • 19. A. Arizmendi
    • 14. V. Rodríguez

    Injured

    • 9. F. Morientes
    • 24. E. Moretti
    • 3. H. Maduro

    Suspended

    None