Spanish La Liga: Gerard Pique Goal Gives Barcelona A Win Over Villarreal

This save came very late in the game while Barcelona held a 1-0 lead, so it’s not necessary to explain how important this was. It’s possible that Valdes didn’t know anything about the save and that he simply got lucky, but it’s usually the case with these leg saves that the goalkeeper knows exactly where the ball is and that he’s watching it the whole time. For someone with the class of Valdes, it wouldn’t be the least bit surprising if he was trying to do exactly what he ended up doing.

Barcelona were not their spectacular selves, especially with Lionel Messi sitting in the second half and Xavi sitting out the entire game, but all wins are the same on the table, and the Blaugranes have done what they needed to do to get all three points, as they defeated Villarreal by a score of 1-0 at El Madrigal. Thanks to Real Madrid’s huge loss against Sporting Gijon earlier today, Barcelona are now a massive eight points ahead in the race for the title in La Liga, a lead that is probably insurmountable, even with the Super Clasico remaining, with only eight rounds left in the season.

Gerard Pique’s goal was, in typical Pique fashion, a complete forward’s goal and not a central defender’s goal off of a corner kick. In the second half, Sergio Busquets flicked a corner kick back to Pique, who took the ball skillfully off his chest before poking it into the back of the net with his foot. Barcelona were not on their A game today, but that goal would be all they needed to secure the win.

In typical boring Barcelona fashion, the extremely negative side needed a set piece to score, as it was the only way they were ever going to find a goal. Now that they’ve found it, I’m sure that they’ll pack ten men behind the ball for the remainder of the match, allowing Villarreal to control possession and forcing them to break down their rigid midfield. Gerard Pique was the scorer, and at this rate, he’ll probably become Barcelona’s leading scorer in La Liga, since it’s not like their forwards or midfield ever do anything going forward.

There are well over 20 minutes remaining in the match and Barcelona could easily push forward for another goal, but they’re obviously going to attempt to sit on this 1-0 lead and milk it for all it’s worth. Giuseppe Rossi of Villarreal is going to have to work especially hard at the end of this game if he wants to find any space between the midfield and defense of Barcelona.

In a substitution move that woke me from my deep slumber and got me to actually start paying attention to this game, Barcelona have both gotten more attacking and more awesome, bringing on super duper star and generally awesome guy Lionel Messi for above average but not really that thrilling guy Seydou Keita. Messi picked up a slight injury while on national team duty with Argentina and didn’t play against Costa Rica, then didn’t train much this week, but is apparently now good and fit.

And man, did this game need him. At least by Barca standards, this one has been an absolute snoozefest. Villarreal probably should have capitalized by now on the fact that Barca don’t look very good, and all of Dani Alves’s play acting is getting really, really old. Messi should provide a spark in this game and suddenly make it watchable. Now, where is Xavi? I’m greedy and I want to see him too.

So far, the match between Villarreal and FC Barcelona has been odd, to say the least. Both Lionel Messi and Xavi are missing from the Blaugranes starting lineup, meaning that Barca aren’t really Barca. They look like some weird shell of Barca, but when those guys aren’t on the pitch, it’s really not that cool. As a result, Villarreal have had some decent chances and it’s a really even game. Though, to be honest, I want to see Xavi and Messi. Unless Villarreal scores soon or those guys enter the game, this is going to continue to be pretty boring.

SB Nation’s new Villarreal blog, Villarreal USA, has some good discussion going in their match thread, and I thought I’d rip an insightful quote. On Javier Mascherano’s apparent injury and Barcelona’s sportsmanship:

Studs into the knee? No big deal. Despite the fact that Villarreal’s Bruno put his cleats straight into his knee, FC Barcelona’s Javier Mascherano has returned to the field. The tackle caused a cut and Mascherano was limping badly as he left the field after the tackle, but amazingly, he’s straight back into the pitch when it looked like he would surely have to be substituted. I can only assume that he simply rubbed some dirt on his knee, which magically made it all better.

Because of the ridiculous amount of injuries that Barcelona is dealing with today, combined with the fact that they have a Champions League match coming right up, another injury would have been hard to stomach for Pep Guardiola. Lionel Messi and Xavi are currently chilling on the bench, supposedly not completely fit but not really that injured, either. For my money, I bet that Pep saw the Real Madrid result and decided to sit them. Would anyone be surprised by this?

You could have been forgiven for thinking that Jose Mourinho was never going to lose a league game at home ever again. After all, the last time the Special One had tasted defeat in a home game was on Feb. 23rd, 2002, when his Porto side lost 3-2 to Beira-Mar. That’s a little over nine years of turning his castle into an impregnable fortress, for those who don’t feel like doing the maths. It didn’t matter where he went, either. Stamford Bridge probably should have been decorated with heads on spikes for all the welcome it gave visiting teams, and things weren’t any different during Mourinho’s stint at Inter Milan.

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After taking a lead and putting in some serious effort to try to retain that lead in the first half, Getafe completely collapsed in the second half of their game against Valencia, eventually losing by a score of 4-2. The hosts went into the locker room at halftime with a 1-0 lead, but Roberto Soldado’s goal 45 seconds into the second half seemed to seal their fate even before they started trailing. Still, it would have been hard to predict that they would collapse so thoroughly and so spectacularly, as Soldado netted four goals, taking his scoring record to a total of 10 league goals on the season.

Juan Mata assisted two of the goals, including the final one after a 60 yard run. One of the others was assisted by recent signing Jonas, and the other was unassisted after Soldado stole the ball from a Getafe defender. Manu’s opener was brilliant for Getafe and their 88th minute garbage goal wasn’t bad, but at that time, Valencia had completely taken their foot off the gas as a win was all but assured. Of course this win puts pressure on Villarreal to get some kind of result against Barcelona if they want to keep pace.

Seriously, now ya’ll are just showboating. Though, Getafe should probably be criticized for completely giving up and falling asleep after they went 2-1 down. Roberto Soldado now has four, count ‘em, four goals, and I feel like it is at this time that Valencia will stop piling on the misery and start simply knocking the ball around. This second half has been thoroughly embarrassing for Getafe, a team that look like a relegation candidate instead of the Europa League contender that they were at the start of the season.

The chance was finished by Soldado, but it was created by an uncontested 60 yard run by Juan Mata. Yes, an UNCONTESTED 60 YARD RUN. As in, a guy got the ball and ran towards the opposing goal, but no members of the opposing team attempted to stop him for 60 yards. I know, I’m as confused as you are. Eventually Mata got bored and passed to Soldado, who scored his fourth goal. The score is 4-1, and this game is now awful.

Barcelona (4-3-3): Valdés; Alves, Piqué, Busquets, Adriano; Thiago, Mascherano, Keita; Afellay, Villa, Iniesta.

Substitutes: Pinto, Montoya, Fontas, Milito, Jonathan dos Santos, Bojan, Messi.

Just two minutes after completing his brace, Roberto Soldado has completed his hat trick, putting Valencia up 3-1 on Getafe. The hosts are completely falling apart now, and there’s no way that they have even a remote chance of getting back into the game. Unlikely the first two goals for Valencia, which were majestically assisted, this one was all Soldado. He stole the ball clean off the foot of a defender, weaved into the box, and finished past Oscar Ustari. Simple, and while it looked very nice, it honestly only happened because Getafe are poor.

The hosts were incredibly encouraging at the start of the match as they legitimately outplayed Valencia en route to a fantastic team goal in the opening 15 minutes, but i’m not sure where that team ran off to. They’re getting torn apart by Valencia, who actually don’t look like they’re trying that hard. Soldado is doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants.

Valencia have scored the second goal that was coming from the moment the first goal hit the back of the net, and despite the brilliance of Getafe’s opener, you will be hard pressed to find someone who thinks that Valencia do not deserve their 2-1 lead. Roberto Soldado was again their goal scorer, and he has a brace for Los Che. The goal looked eerily similar to the first one, although the setup man and finish were still slightly different. Still, Valencia found the back of the net through Soldado almost immediately following a change in possession.

This time, the through ball to Soldado was supplied not by Juan Mata, but by new signing Jonas. The Brazilian attacker came from relative obscurity, at least among those who do not follow Brazilian football in serious depth, to become the Brasileiro’s leading scorer last season. He was sold from Cruzeiro to Valencia, and he’s re-paying that investment early on. He played the ball through to Soldado who finished with the outside of his foot to the far post from close range, and just like that, Valencia lead.

Well, that didn’t take long. Just 45 seconds into the second half, Valencia have found their well deserved equalizer, finally putting a shot in a place where Oscar Usteri couldn’t save it for Getafe. Roberto Soldado is the man who scored, and Getafe will likely now feel like they have a mountain to climb, despite being involved in a tie game at home. Valencia already had the momentum before their goal, and scoring will only increase their confidence.

Soldado did well to out-pace his defender and finish the chance on the fast break, but the real credit for the goal should probably go to Juan Mata. Valencia’s superstar and No. 10 played a sublime ball into the box for Soldado to run onto, and the best part is that it’s the kind of stunning pass that he often makes look routine. After getting a goal so early into the second half, Valencia will likely have the goal of taking the lead quickly and not letting the drama drag out.

Valencia haven’t looked like the inept team that failed to score in their last two games, but through 45 minutes, the results have been exactly the same. Though, more than themselves, their current scoreboard donut has been caused by Getafe goalkeeper Oscar Ustari, along with some bad luck. They should probably have more than one goal right now, but that doesn’t matter nearly as much as the scoreboard does.

Of course, the scoreboard says 1-0 to Getafe because the hosts were able to score on an absolutely brilliant bit of combination play between Pedro Mosqueda and the goal scorer, Manu. Otherwise, they’ve been mediocre going forward and Valencia have kept them on the back foot for the duration of the match so far. It’s just that Los Che’s dominance hasn’t translated to goals through 45 minutes. If the score stayed like this for an extended period of time it would be surprising, but then again, this is the kind of stuff Valencia does occasionally.

Getafe have struggled recently in La Liga, but they have a well deserved lead on third-placed Valencia thanks to an absolutely stunning piece of combination play between Pedro Mosquera and the goal scorer, Manu. Valencia have started very slowly in this match and they’re failing to create scoring chances, much like their previous two fixtures in La Liga. As Getafe, a mediocre team outplay them, Valencia fans might fear that their team’s struggles are closer to being a systemic problem than a quick, poor run of form.

The goal came on a great one-two combination between Mosquero and Manu, worthy of any great goals highlight reel in the world. Manu started the move by feeding the ball to Mosquero in the box, who took a great touch before backheeling the ball right back to Manu. He beat his defender with his touch, then hit a great curling shot around the keeper to the far post, putting Getafe in the lead.

Yes, you read that headline correctly. Real Madrid have lost at home to Sporting Gijon in absolutely stunning fashion. Even more amazingly, the loss can reasonably be attributed by a poor tactical decision by Jose Mourinho. I didn’t think that I would ever say or read anyone say, in my lifetime, that Jose Mourinho lost a game at home because of poor tactical decision making. Those combination of terms are unbelievable in a sentence. “Jose Mourinho,” “home loss,” and “poor tactics” all used together. Jaw dropping.

Madrid were without Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso, and with those players out, Madrid completely lacked creativity. Mesut Özil was okay, but not great, and with those players out, he needed to be great. Emmanuel Adebayor failed to make an impact, and Angel Di Maria’s constant diving was embarrassing.

This winter, Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain picked up an injury that it appeared could keep him out for the remainder of the season. His recovery has been extremely speedy, and today, more than a month before his expected return, Higuain has returned as a substitute against Sporting Gijon. And boy, do Real Madrid need him. They’ve been poor so far in this game, and in the very short time since Higuain entered the match, Madrid have looked much better.

While Real Madrid might have almost no chance at winning the league, especially if they fail to take all three points from this match, Higuain’s return will aid them considerably in their hunt for UEFA Champions League glory. Tottenham Hotspur won’t be happy to hear that, but they can at least take comfort in the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo is still injured. Madrid aren’t a complete side at the moment, but when Higuain and Ronaldo are both healthy, they’re one of the couple most dangerous teams in the world.

Real Madrid have opted to make as close to a like for like change for Cristiano Ronaldo as possible instead of a system adjustment, bringing in Esteban Granero. Real Madrid are also without Karim Benzema is unavailable and Gonzalo Higuain is not 90 minutes fit, so Emmanuel Adebayor starts up top. Kaka and Xabi Alonso are out as well, so Real’s bench is looking a bit thin.

Sporting Gijon, like Real Madrid, are playing a 4-2-3-1 system, so they will hope to cancel out what Madrid attempt to do. Their key player could be their trequarista, Andre Castro, who joined the team on loan from FC Porto in January.

Real Madrid Vs. Sporting Gijon

Saturday, 12 pm ET