Barcelona Runs Riot

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It was one of those games. Barcelona away to a small team on a cold, wet, and windy night. Last time they visited Elche's stadium, they won 4-0 with the young guns like Adama Traore and Alen Halilovic. Today however, non eof those were brought forth by Luis Enrique. Instead, the Asturian put out a good side, but one that wasn't Barcelona's best. They went with Javier Mascherano instead of Sergio Busquets, Rafinha instead of Ivan Rakitic, and the biggest one was Pedro in place of Luis Suarez. Adding insult to injury for Luis Suarez, it was his 28th birthday and he didn;t get to see the field. The first 30 minutes were reminiscent of last season;s encounter in this stadium, with last year's match ending  a dull 0-0. Today however, in the first 30 minutes, Elche were looking quite dangerous on the attack with the big Brazilian Jonathas leading the line.  They were also looking quite solid and comfortable on defense, with Barcelona not really getting into rhythm with one eye possibly on the big clash with Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the Copa Del Ray quarterfinals, which Barcelona has a lead of 1-0 thanks to a late Lionel Messi goal on Wednesday. The match then took a turn as Xavi took a quick free kick, catching out the Elche back line and finding Pique, who chested the ball down expertly and fired the ball into the back of the net via a slight deflection. From there, there was really no doubt about the result as Barcelona went down another gear. The second half started with Barcelona controlling possession, which was not a surprise to anyone. Suddenly, Rafinha sent in Neymar, who went by his marker to gain the penalty. Lionel Messi then calmly finished. Barcelona then went up a notch.  It was the Neymar and Messi show from there on. Messi went past his marker and then sent a magisterial pass for Neymar, who made no mistake in finishing. Less than a minute later, Neymar gave a pass to Messi, who pulled out one of the passes of the season to chip it perfectly into Neymar's path who volleyed it strongly into the back of the net with aplomb.  This showed the magic of Messi, finding two otherworldly passes for Neymar to finish. Messi then capped his brilliant night with another goal of his own, turning a defender and firing it into the far corner. However, Barcelona weren't done. With virtually the last kick of the football, Neymar used his speed to  get by two defenders and square it for Pedro who had an easy tapin.  This wasn't just an ordinary blow-out, this was a performance that showed Messi could play in yet another role, an attacking midfielder and sometimes even in the position just in front of the back four. The man never fails to amaze me. Even though he scored two goals, it wasn't his goalscoring, but his passing that impressed me the most. He made so many passes that just tore the Elche defense apart. He is back to his best. Neymar again showed his maturity and his brilliance. His combination with Messi was just a joy to watch.  It is starting to all come together for this football club. Crisis? What crisis?

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