FOOTBALL Live

Saturday January 3, 2009 Finished

3 - 1

Barcelona

  • Henry 31’
  • Iniesta 76’
  • Touré 89’

Mallorca

  • Aduriz 14’

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  1. Barcelona defeat solid Mallorca

    Barcelona defeat solid Mallorca

    Barcelona win 3-1 against plucky Mallorca while Valencia beat Atletico Madrid in La Liga. More

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Barcelona
    • Mallorca
    • 90'+2 Yaya Toure scores a third for Barcelona! Deep into injury time the midfielder pounces through the defence in the box and hammers home past the hapless Lux. Three goals and three points for Barca now.
    • 89' What was it we were saying about a sending off? The man to go is Mallorca defender Josemi, who gets an early bath for the sort of pull on Henry that would just about merit a free kick from a sane match official.
    • 85' A flurry of substitutions on either side are happening at the moment, though you feel that most of them are designed to stop the referee sending anyone off. He's had an itchy card hand all night, and clearly wants to add a red to the eight yellows he's handed out tonight.
    • 80' Barca are pushing for a third now, with Mallorca still chasing when they can, but the spring seems to have gone out of the islanders' step.
    • 75' AND IT'S A GOAL FOR BARCELONA!!!! Barca get a soft goal in the end, as a cruel deflection off Ramis plays three offside Barca players back on side. The ball spins wide for Gudjohnsen, who crosses for Iniesta to net in an empty goal. Gudjohnsen had been played onside when he got the ball, but surely Iniesta was offside when he received the pass? That looks very harsh on Mallorca.
    • 74' Two more names in the book, Varela for pushing Alves over and Alves for, apparently, getting pushed over. This dude is out of control now.
    • 71' Good Barca build up, but the Mallorca defence keep swatting away the attacks like Geoff Boycott guarding his stumps against a mediocre quick bowler. It's tough to see any breakthrough coming - but Barca have so much brilliance in this team a piece of individual genius could change all that in a moment.
    • 69' Yet another yellow, this time for Lux in the Mallorca goal for what seemed an accidental collision with an opposing player. The ref's gone a bit potty with his book - perhaps he's only got a few pages left in the book and is trying to finish it off.
    • 67' Hleb off, Iniesta on - this is clearly Pep Guardiola trying to make something happen.
    • 65' Xavi booked for grumbling at the referee - and quite right too, he kept on and on at the man with the whistle like an annoying six-year-old nagging to be taken to a theme park.
    • 63' Barca keep coming, Mallorca keep defending... but the home side just can't create much of anything concrete like they were in the last few minutes of the first half. THIS is where they miss Messi...
    • 59' Eto'o beats the offside trap to earn a superb chance to put Barca in the lead - but he fluffs it, kicking the ball into the turf and watching as it bounces inertly towards the waiting Lux. He did seem a bit reluctant to net against his old club there... or is that unfair? Maybe he's just a little bit rubbish and needs three chances for every goal...
    • 57' Mallorca hero Aduriz is booked after an outrageously obscene dive by Marquez - pathetic.
    • 55' Two chances in two minutes for the visitors - Barca do keep pressing, but they're also leaving holes at the back. It's almost all red and blue, but you wouldn't bet against any outcome quite yet.
    • 52' ALMOST AN OWN GOAL!!! A good move by Barca is brilliantly cut out by Ramis - who then very nearly slots it past his own keeper. Luckily it runs just wide... Whoops!
    • 49' A good move up the right by Barca leads to Puyol crossing in to Eto'o, who fires a great shot that is well stopped by Lux.
    • 46' Back under way at the Nou Camp, and straight away it's Mallorca goal hero Aduriz who nearly beats the offside trap. There's still a definite danger of a breakaway goal by the visitors as Barca push to victory.
    • 45'+2 Samuel Eto'o nearly gets on the end of one to score against his old club, but moments later the whistle goes. That's the end of the first half, and it has to be said that Barcelona ambled their way through this match until that first Mallorca goal woke them up. When they did start playing, they looked, at times, as good as they have done all season.
    • 44' Mallorca playmaker Mario Suarez practically runs through Eidur Gudjohnsen, with not even a token effort at pretending to be anywhere near the ball. He goes in the book.
    • 42' PENALTY?! No, Puyol is adjudged to have fallen over the ball while he was dancing brilliantly in the box and surely about to bury the globe into the net. It seemed a good penalty shout, but the ref was closer than we are so we'll let him have the benefit of the doubt on what looked like a blatant spot kick.
    • 39' Back to the midfield pinball for the moment, with the only excitement being Victor Valdes fumbling a Mallorca free kick - luckily he could scramble for it before any attackers got close.
    • 35' Gudjohnsen seems to fall over his own feet, but the ref gives the free kick against the nearby defender. From the kick Henry takes the ball and fires it into the arms of Josemi, but to Henry's disgust the ref waves away the handball shout. Their subsequent spat earns both a booking.
    • 33' That's Henry's ninth goal in 14 appearances for his new club. So much for him supposedly struggling to make his mark in Spanish football... looks like the Frenchman has put his divorce behind him and is back to his best.
    • 31' THE EQUALISER IS THERE!!! Another great build-up from this awesome Barca team sees a corner flicked on by Puyol to Thierry Henry, who controls brilliantly before hitting the ball back across goal and in-off the far post. He had no right to even find the target from that ball; a great finish by a great striker.
    • 29' Barca put together an incredible movement that seems to go one with an endless stream of one-touch passing and movement - it's quite beautiful, like watching a 1970s vintage Brazil team - and you feel they must score finally when the chance falls to Yaya Toure on the six-yard box... but German Lux in the Mallorca goal keeps it out with his foot...
    • 27' ...and Gudjohnsen charges in and SHOOTS!!!! It's a fantastic driving half-volley that clips the bar and flies harmlessly into the crowd, but it could easily have been the equaliser.
    • 26' Mallorca look happy soaking the pressure, and coming through with the occasional charge on the counter. They concede a corner...
    • 24' As the action lulls, it's time to point out that the Mallorca players each appear to have bright yellow signs pinned to their backsides. From here it's impossible to see if they read 'kick me' or not, but it sure looks like they ought to say that.
    • 22' Thierry Henry gets on the end of a high ball whalloped enthusiastically into the box by Marquez, but he's sandwiched by Josemi and Nunes in defence and can only get a weak, looping trajectory on his header.
    • 21' The game has fallen back into its previous pattern, with Barca repeatedly but unsuccessfully probing for a gap in the sea of white shirts.
    • 18' Free kick to Barcelona, but it comes to nothing. You know they're going to chase, and chase hard...
    • 15' MALLORCA HAVE SCORED!!!!! IT'S UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! Aritz Aduriz runs past the entire Barca defence while breaking on a long ball, and before he knows it only has the keeper to beat - which he does with a perfect lob over Valdes from just outside the box. Great goal, and who would have thought it!!
    • 12' Pretty slow stuff so far - it's like watching Italian football - but then suddenly Mallorca amazingly almost get a half-chance to potentially get in the position where they could have thought about scoring. But Abidal charges in and cuts out any nonsense before it can start.
    • 9' Barca are just passing the ball back and forth, looking for a gap as Lionel Messi takes the vacant seat next to Maradona. TRIVIA ALERT: Messi was just a few days short of a year after Maradona led Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986. Spooky.
    • 7' Hleb gets a first touch, and it's a good one which leads to a decent build-up for Eidur Gudjohnsen, but the Scandinavian has wandered offside.
    • 4 With Messi out - some sort of travel mix-up on the way back from a New Year celebration - Alexander Hleb is playing on the right wing for Barca. How will he do? Well, Barca have often looked average without Messi so it'll be tough. But at least his former team-mate Thierry Henry is back in form, and will be able to help him out.
    • 3' Barcelona are bullying their guests already, hanging on to the ball as much as possible and cutting them off any time they threaten to try to get into this.
    • 1' And the match is under way, with relegation-threatened Mallorca even clad in lambs-to-the-slaughter white.
    • - Diego Maradona is in the crowd tonight - presumably in his role as the Argentina coach, despite the fact that Messi isn't even in the squad for tonight's match. It's Maradona's first time in this stadium for a quarter of a century.
    • - Barca are in red hot form and ten points clear in La Liga at the moment, while Mallorca haven't won since late October. Lambs to the slaughter? There's no point mincing words on this one: yes. Yes, they are. Expect the score to be at least 38-0.
    • - Welcome to our LIVE coverage of Barcelona against Mallorca at the Nou Camp. Kick off is in a few minutes, we'll have all the action right here.

  • Team Stats

    Barcelona Stats Mallorca
    72% Possession 27%
    18 Shots 6
    8 Shots on target 3
    0 Saves 4
    5 Corners 0
    16 Fouls 11
    2 Offsides 4
    4 Yellow cards 6
    0 Red cards 1
    26 Tackles 29
    593 Accurate passes 172
    85 Bad passes 39

  • 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 13 0 0
      4 Rafael Márquez 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 61 4 7
      22 Eric Abidal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 73 14 2
      5 Carles Puyol 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 62 1 2
      21 Alexander Hleb 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 39 0 1
      24 Gnegneri Yaya Toure 1 2 2 2 1 0 0 52 4 5
      6 Xavi Hernández 0 2 0 0 3 0 0 83 10 4
      29 Víctor Sánchez 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 45 6 1
      9 Samuel Eto'o 0 4 2 1 2 1 1 23 0 0
      7 Eidur Gudjohnsen 0 1 0 2 3 1 1 53 22 0
      14 Thierry Henry 1 4 3 2 1 0 0 29 10 2
      8 Andres Iniesta 1 2 1 0 2 0 0 18 7 0
      11 Bojan Krkic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      28 Sergi Busquets 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      15 Seydou Keita 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      20 Daniel Alves 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 29 0 2
      13 Jose Manuel Pinto 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      16 Sylvinho Mendes Campos 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 7 0
    • Mallorca
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      25 German Lux 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 3 0
      4 Ivan Ramis 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 3
      23 Enrique Corrales 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 19 6 5
      7 Fernando Varela 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 19 8 4
      3 José Miguel González Rey 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 11 0 3
      5 Lionel Scaloni 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 10 1 1
      16 Jose Carlos de Araujo Nunes 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 1 2
      18 Juan Arango 0 3 2 1 4 0 0 17 6 1
      19 José Luis Martí 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 4 4
      6 Mario Suárez Mata 0 0 0 4 4 1 0 23 1 6
      21 Aritz Aduriz 1 1 1 4 0 2 0 17 6 0
      14 Alhassane Keita 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      13 Dudu Aouate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      2 Cléber Santana Loureiro 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 2 0
      9 Pierre Webó 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
      10 Jose Jurado 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 0
      17 Ayoze Diaz Diaz 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      15 David Navarro 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

  • Summary

    • 90'+2 Yaya Toure scores a third for Barcelona! Deep into injury time the midfielder pounces through the defence in the box and hammers home past the hapless Lux. Three goals and three points for Barca now.
    • 89' What was it we were saying about a sending off? The man to go is Mallorca defender Josemi, who gets an early bath for the sort of pull on Henry that would just about merit a free kick from a sane match official.
    • 75' AND IT'S A GOAL FOR BARCELONA!!!! Barca get a soft goal in the end, as a cruel deflection off Ramis plays three offside Barca players back on side. The ball spins wide for Gudjohnsen, who crosses for Iniesta to net in an empty goal. Gudjohnsen had been played onside when he got the ball, but surely Iniesta was offside when he received the pass? That looks very harsh on Mallorca.
    • 59' Eto'o beats the offside trap to earn a superb chance to put Barca in the lead - but he fluffs it, kicking the ball into the turf and watching as it bounces inertly towards the waiting Lux. He did seem a bit reluctant to net against his old club there... or is that unfair? Maybe he's just a little bit rubbish and needs three chances for every goal...
    • 55' Two chances in two minutes for the visitors - Barca do keep pressing, but they're also leaving holes at the back. It's almost all red and blue, but you wouldn't bet against any outcome quite yet.
    • 52' ALMOST AN OWN GOAL!!! A good move by Barca is brilliantly cut out by Ramis - who then very nearly slots it past his own keeper. Luckily it runs just wide... Whoops!
    • 42' PENALTY?! No, Puyol is adjudged to have fallen over the ball while he was dancing brilliantly in the box and surely about to bury the globe into the net. It seemed a good penalty shout, but the ref was closer than we are so we'll let him have the benefit of the doubt on what looked like a blatant spot kick.
    • 31' THE EQUALISER IS THERE!!! Another great build-up from this awesome Barca team sees a corner flicked on by Puyol to Thierry Henry, who controls brilliantly before hitting the ball back across goal and in-off the far post. He had no right to even find the target from that ball; a great finish by a great striker.
    • 29' Barca put together an incredible movement that seems to go one with an endless stream of one-touch passing and movement - it's quite beautiful, like watching a 1970s vintage Brazil team - and you feel they must score finally when the chance falls to Yaya Toure on the six-yard box... but German Lux in the Mallorca goal keeps it out with his foot...
    • 27' ...and Gudjohnsen charges in and SHOOTS!!!! It's a fantastic driving half-volley that clips the bar and flies harmlessly into the crowd, but it could easily have been the equaliser.
    • 15' MALLORCA HAVE SCORED!!!!! IT'S UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! Aritz Aduriz runs past the entire Barca defence while breaking on a long ball, and before he knows it only has the keeper to beat - which he does with a perfect lob over Valdes from just outside the box. Great goal, and who would have thought it!!

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: Velasco Carballo Carlos

  • Barcelona

    Manager: Josep Guardiola

    Captain: Carles Puyol

    Starting line-up

    • V. Valdés
    • M. Cáceres
    • C. Puyol
    • R. Márquez Yellow Card Substitution Out (71′)
    • E. Abidal
    • Y. Touré Goal
    • .. Xavi Yellow Card
    • A. Hleb Substitution Out (68′)
    • E. Gudjohnsen
    • T. Henry Goal Yellow Card
    • S. Eto'o

    Subs

    • 16. S. Sylvinho Substitution In71′
    • 13. J. Pinto
    • C. Busquets
    • 15. S. Keita
    • 8. A. Iniesta Substitution In68′ Goal
    • 11. K. Bojan
    • 27. R. Pedrito

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    None

  • Mallorca

    Manager: Gregorio Manzano

    Captain: Jose Carlos Nunes

    Starting line-up

    • G. Lux
    • G. Josemi Red Card
    • J. Nunes
    • I. Ramis
    • E. Corrales
    • L. Scaloni Substitution Out (75′)
    • J. Martí
    • F. Varela Yellow Card
    • M. Suárez Yellow Card Substitution Out (81′)
    • J. Arango
    • A. Aduriz Goal Yellow Card Substitution Out (81′)

    Subs

    • 15. D. Navarro
    • 17. A. Díaz
    • 25. D. Aouate
    • 9. A. Webo Substitution In81′
    • 14. A. Keita
    • 10. J. Jurado Substitution In81′
    • 2. L. Cléber Santana Substitution In75′

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    None

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