subject: Spanish League- Barcelona Wins With Doubtful Penalty Against Espanyol [print this page] Barcelona asserted its leadership with a 1-0 triumph against Espanyol in the fourteenth round of the Spanish League. The defending Spanish Champions now have 39 points so far into the season.
Bara was in control of the ball most of the time but the team did not show its full potential. The meeting began with the Azulgranas trying to pressure their rivals, who were a little frightened but still knew how to stay aware of Barcelonas offensive plays.
Barcelona played without Argentine forward, Lionel Messi, who is out with an injury. The team is obviously fatigued due to its game-filled schedule, so the Cul team changed its strategy on the field.
The absence of Messi affected Barcelona, so most of the plays went to striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swede gave a little excitement to the game by moving on the center of the field, from where he tried to create dangerous plays.
The Spanish champions advanced rapidly toward the Periquitos area. Barcelona striker Pedro Rodriguez intercepted defender Javi Chica and stole a ball that he unsuccessfully kicked over the goal of goalkeeper Carlos Kameni.
Playing the Catalan classic in the Camp Nou Stadium, those from Espanyol could not keep the possession of the ball. They were very cautious and they didnt show their best soccer ever, even if Bara did not play at its best either.
Despite the superiority, the locals were accomplishing very simple plays that motivate Espanyol to enter their rivals area. Ivan Alonso and Joan Verd made only two exciting plays during the first half.
Ready to score, Barca continued to transfer the bulk of their offensive plays through Ibrahimovic. He helped to distribute good passes to Thierry Henry and Maxwell, which they could not convert into goals.
39 minutes into a game, a controversial action of penalty by Ral Baena to Xavi Hernandez gave the Sweden Ibrahimovic the opportunity to put the score 1-0 in favor of his team, thus ending that way the first half.
In the second half, Mauricio Pochettino, Espanyol coach, made some strategic changes with his players. This gave the visitors enough confidence to get some control of the game.
Dani Alves took advantage of some open spaces in the right side, but the blanquiazules realized this and quickly cut off his intentions. It was then, when the Barcelona's physical weakness was evident.
To solve this, Josep Guardiola, FC Barcelona coach, took Pedro Rodriguez out of the pitch and gave entry to midfielder, Seydou Keita. The Malian collaborated with his team to recover the concentration against an opponent that despite not been dangerous, might get a chance to score.
With the intention of strengthening Baras attack, Ibrahimovic was replaced by Bojan Krkic. But he could do little since the Blaugranes only had another chance to score, but defender Facundo Roncaglia stoped the play.
