Barcelona may not have had the likes of Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta available today, but it didn't matter. The young future stars Thiago and Cristian Tello stepped up and lead the Blaugrana past Real Zaragoza.
Real Zaragoza vs. Barcelona: Final score 0-3, Tello and Thiago shine for the Blaugrana
With Messi and Iniesta not available, the Barcelona youngsters were on display as Thiago and Tello held lead the Blaugrana to a victory over Real Zaragoza.
David Ramos
Barcelona worked a bit of magic in the 20th minute as Thiago fought off a challenge in the midfield and raced forward, finding Alexis Sanchez on the left edge of the Zaragoza box. Thiago continued his run and Alexis threaded a pass back to the midfielder. Surrounded by a triangle of defenders, Thiago took one touch in the limited space and rolled a shot past the outstreched hand of Roberto Gago, off the inside of the far post and in to give Barca a 1-0 lead.
Thiago added an assist to his ledger for the day sliding a lovely pass to Cristian Tello as he snuck past the Zaragoza back line and into space, one on one with Gago. Tello sent the keeper the wrong way and fired a shot over his shoulder and into the upper right corner, doubling Barcelona's lead five minutes from the halftime break.
Alexis nearly added a third goal in the 46th minute after being freed down the right wing by Cesc Fabregas' through ball. Alexis went for a rather audacious chip shot that was denied only by the cross bar after it floated over Gago.
Tello scored his second of the day in the 53rd minute, bombing down the right wing, abusing Cristian Sapunaru with a wonderful move and then somehow placing the ball into the far corner of the goal. It apparently didn’t matter to Tello that Gago appeared to have the angle covered perfectly, though he obviously didn’t.
There was a bit of an ugly moment in the 82nd minute after Álvaro and Alexis tangled. Alexis went down and the Zaragoza defended kicked out at Alexis’ chest. Álvaro escaped with a red card and Alexis appeared to suffer no serious damage.
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