Barcelona maintained their lead on their two rivals from Madrid on Saturday, posting another win in La Liga to go three points clear on top of the table. Real Valladolid had a poor second half, falling 4-1 to the Blaugrana.
Barcelona vs. Real Valladolid: Final score 4-1, Comfortable win for Blaugrana after a rocky start
Valladolid took an early lead against Barcelona, but the hosts never looked too bothered. They flipped the script quickly and ran out easy winners.
Things didn’t get off to a good start for Barcelona, however. Javi Guerra surprisingly put Valladolid ahead in the 10th minute on a corner kick. Patrick Ebert delivered a gorgeous corner into the center of the box to assist the goal, finding Guerra as he peeled off his man before powering a header into the back of the net.
It took just three minutes for the Blaugrana to equalize and the Valladolid defense only had themselves to blame on the goal, scored by Alexis Sanchez from 20 yards out. The Chilean picked up a pass from Christian Tello outside the box and took advantage of the Valladolid defense backing off him by unleashing a powerful shot that Diego Mariño had no chance to stop.
Barcelona would continue to dominate the game throughout the rest of the first half, but couldn’t find the go-ahead goal before the break. Valladolid couldn’t hold on long in the second half, though, as Xavi found the eventual winner in the 52nd minute. Neymar set it up with a great turn and surge forward before he sprayed the ball wide to Tello, who squared to Xavi for an easy finish.
From that point on, everything was easy for Barca. Sanchez scored his second goal in the 64th minute, assisted by Neymar after Valladolid turned the ball over in midfield. Their roles were switched six minutes later when Alexis set up Neymar for a close-range goal to round out the scoring.
Barcelona: Valdes, Adriano, Pique (Busquets 79’), Bartra, Alves, Song, Xavi, Fabregas (Iniesta 65’), Alexis, Neymar, Tello (Pedro 73’)
Goals: Alexis (13’, 64’), Xavi (52’), Neymar (70’)
Valladolid: Mariño, Peña, Rueda, Valiente, Rukavina, Rossi, Baraja, Bergdich (Garcia 87’), Ramos, Ebert (Rama 71’), Guerra (Osorio 61’)
Goals: Guerra (10’)
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