Blaugrana stunned at Camp Nou

Barcelona lost at home in the league for the first time since April 2012 as Valencia ended the league leaders' run of 25 successive wins at the Nou Camp. After heading into halftime tied 1-1, the hosts fell apart at the back on two second-half goals by Pablo Piatti and Paco Alcacer.Piatti got Los Che on the board early in the second half in the 48th minute with a header that was lofted over the arms of Victor Valdes from the center of the box. 

Barca countered six minutes later by way of a Lionel Messi penalty. It was the first league goal in eight games for the Argentinian marksman.  The penalty was earned by Barcelona when Ricardo Costa's left arm made contact with the ball in the penalty area. The match-winner came from Alcacer in the 59th minute as he struck a pass from Sofiane Feghouli with his right foot past Valdes. 

Barcelona's decision not to sign a defender during the January transfer window may have backfired after Valencia took advantage of a lethargic, uninspired effort from Barcelona at the Camp Nou. Barca led through Alexis Sanchez's eighth-minute goal, but Dani Parejo equalised for Valencia before the break. Lionel Messi set up the opener after slashing a pass across the box beyond the far post where Alexis connected oddly to float it over goalkeeper Diego Alves. Valencia took control from the 44th minute when Parejo exploited a turnover inside the Barcelona half to lead a breakout with Sofiane Feghouli, who returned a pass inside the area for Parejo to score easily.

Barcelona seemed to be cruising after Alexis Sanchez’s sublime 7th-minute chip, dominating possession until Dani Parejo exploited terrible defending to equalise just before half-time. Diego Alves was the star of the Valencia defense on Saturday with three saves and numerous other disruptions to the Barcelona attack. The biggest save of the day for Alves came in the 21st minute when he soared across goal to deny Sanchez of his second goal through a header.

"I would say to them [the Barcelona players that everything continues, that we may lose the leadership of the league, but that we will still continue to fight," said Barcelona manager Gerardo Martino. "We will try to recover the lost ground on our title rivals. We conceded chances to Valencia and they took advantage of them. We need to keep going and keep in mind how much this hurt us today."

"It's a long time since we lost here and it comes at a bad time. Valencia made the most of their chances and we couldn't do any more," midfielder Sergio Busquets told reporters, per Reuters' Tim Hanlon.  "We started well and it continued for the first half hour with a lot of chances to score but then Valencia came into it more and we lost our way."

credits to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2550097/Barcelona-2-3-Valencia-match-report-Real-Madrid-Atletico-Madrid-charge-La-Liga-title-race.html

Lionel Messi scored twice to help La Liga leaders Barcelona stroll to a resounding win

Lionel Messi scored twice to help La Liga leaders Barcelona stroll to a resounding win at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday night, as coach Tito Vilanova recorded the best start for a first-year coach in the 113-year history of the Catalan club. Barça’s magnificent start to the season continued with a comprehensive win in Vallecas to make it eight wins and a draw from their first nine games in La Liga. Goals from Villa, Messi (2), Xavi and Cesc saw Barça through after a pretty well balanced start, which really tilted the visitors’ way after the second goal, as Tito’s men took advantage of Rayo’s advanced back line.

Barca, with midfielder Sergio Busquets and fullback Adriano Correia deputising in central defence, were under a lot of pressure from hard-running Rayo before taking control in Vallecas. Cesc Fábregas set up David Villa's 20th-minute opener to set Barcelona on their way. Messi scored his 16th and 17th goals in all competitions – to take his career tally to 301 – in a second half that also saw Xavi Hernández and Fábregas find the net.

In the second half, Barça came out determined to put the game to bed and after just two minutes Messi rounded off a brilliant team move which saw Pedro beat two defenders and lay the ball off for Montoya who set up the world number one to fire home for the second. Barcelona's eighth win in their first nine games maintained their unbeaten start to the season and lifted them three points ahead of second-placed Atlético Madrid before Atlético's game against the bottom club Osasuna on Sunday.

 Goal.com

The no-nonsense win also kept up the pressure on Real Madrid by opening up an 11-point gap before the defending champion's tough test at Mallorca. "We are delighted for Lionel," Vilanova told a news conference. "He has scored a couple of goals but I prefer to remember the moment when he ran 30 metres to help out in defence in the 89th minute. I love the goals, but I like this more." Fabregas told Spanish television: "It's a difficult ground, with spectacular fans. They pressure you and don't let you breathe. But we played a serious game, perhaps the best of the season so far.

"This was our best game of the season,'' Fabregas said. Messi's two strikes, the first an unstoppable blast from the edge of the box, the second a showcase of fancy footwork to undo the defense, took his league leading tally to 13 goals, four more than Atletico's Radamel Falcao and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo.

Messi has 73 goals for club and country in 2012, leaving him two shy of matching Brazil great Pele's milestone of 75 in 1958. "Scoring two more goals isn't important, the important thing is that we have another win and we believe we can keep this up,'' said Messi, who on Monday will receive the Golden Shoe award for Europe's top scorer last season with an unprecedented 73 goals.

credits to: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com

Brilliant Messi inspires Argentina: Leo leads 'Celeste' over Uruguay

A superb performance by Lionel Messi helped Argentina beat Uruguay to consolidate their place at the top of the South American World Cup Qualifiers. Messi took his tally in the qualifiers to six with a brilliant free kick as Argentina continued their progression after a wobbly start where they were defeated in Venezuela and held to a draw at home to Bolivia.

Messi scored two goals and Sergio Aguero added another to overpower Uruguay 3-0, keeping the Argentines in first place in the qualifying standings for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Messi, who has largely failed to match his translate his outstanding Barcelona form to the national team, has shone ever since Alejandro Sabella was hired a year ago as coach, replacing Sergio Batista who in turn replaced Diego Maradona.

"We had so much of the ball," Messi said. "The important thing is we won. We played a great game and we deserved the three points. They (Uruguay) only wanted to defend. They were just looking for something on the counterattack. Our team is getting stronger each time we play."' Added midfielder Javier Mascherano: "That's another three points, but in this qualification you can lose a couple of games and fall out of contention."

Messi scored in the 66th and added another with a free kick in the 80th while Aguero scored in the 75th at Malvinas Argentinas stadium in Mendoza, Argentina. Angel Di Maria, Marcos Rojo and Aguero all had good chances before Messi opened the scoring. The Barcelona forward played a one-two with Di Maria, then slid to ground while chipping the shot behind keeper Fernando Muslera.

Messi finished things off on a 25-meter (yard) free kick that hugged the ground and went in just inside the post. "That was a great game from these guys," Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella said. "We played with good possession and a lot of patience." (Photo under: Mascherano and Messi)

Not long after his goal, Messi forced a huge save out of Fernando Muslera. His 15-minute stretch from the 65th to the 80th minute was as dominant a stretch of football as one player can possibly have in a match. An Argentina manager has finally surrounded him with the right pieces, and the Albiceleste are clearly the best team in CONMEBOL qualifying at the moment.

"We have very good players who had an excellent match, they played like a team," Sabella told reporters, adding there are no adequate words to describe Messi. "The Spanish Royal Academy (which governs the language) must search for a new adjective for Messi," he said.

Messi created a good chance for himself with a dribbling run past several defenders towards the end of the first half in Mendoza but his final, left-footed shot went over the top and hit the far stanchion. He was also close with a free kick from the left which would have gone in if Muslera had not punched the ball over. Messi's first goal came during a spell of total Argentine dominance but soon after there was a scare for Argentina with defender Pablo Zabaleta clearing off the line.

credits to: http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Messi-scores-2-as-Argentina-beats-Uruguay-3-0-3945021.php

Report of 'El Clàsico' 2-2: Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi superstars

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo matched each other blow for blow at the Nou Camp tonight, scoring two goals apiece as Barcelona and Real Madrid battled out an entertaining draw in the first Clásico of the La Liga season. Heading into the game, Real Madrid trailed Barcelona by eight points, so this was billed as must-win win for the champions. Like they did when the two sides met in the Supercopa de España earlier this year, Madrid started off the better of the two sides and made the breakthrough midway through the first half when Ronaldo beat Víctor Valdés at his near post.

The great team rivalry between the two storied clubs, combined with the fact that these players are undoubtedly the best in the world, make a perfect storyline to follow for years to come. Ramos flashed a header just wide inside the 18th minute. That was the first good chance in the game. Iniesta attempted to reply a couple of minutes later but his effort from 20 yards out flew over the bar. 

The deadlock got broken by a very familiar name, Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese winger fired the ball at the back of the net with his left foot to give the visitors the lead midway through the first half. Benzema had a great opportunity to double the lead a few minutes later but his ball crashed off the post. It came back to Angel Di Maria who agonizingly fired it wide.

Adriano impressed in central defence, but centre-back is stretching the Brazilian's 'utility man' tag too far and he cannot be considered a solution in that role. With Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol sidelined, plus Eric Abidal out long-term and Dani Alves forced off injured, Vilanova reminded the press that he was denied his first-choice back line. But Puyol's problems are well known and Abidal has been out all year, so the argument hardly seemed convincing and had the club signed a centre-back in the summer, they surely would not be in this predicament now.

Barcelona had chances to win it late on, but Madrid had given as good as they got in the first half and should have been two up as Karim Benzema hit the post when he really should have scored shortly after Ronaldo's opener. Mourinho's men took the game to Tito's team and took advantage of some poor positioning from Barca's defence and midfield in the second goal. Vilanova has received much praise for his tactical nous but on occasions last night, his players were all over the place - except where they needed to be.

In the end, it was problems in defence which blighted Barca's campaign in 2011-12 - when the Catalans captured four trophies but missed out on La Liga and the Champions League. Already there are concerns this term, although their problems have been masked by their near-perfect start in the Primera Division. This battle might have hit its peak on Sunday when Barcelona and Real Madrid competed in the latest edition of El Clasico. The match ended in a 2-2 draw, with each forward scoring both goals for his team.