FC Barcelona continue their winning ways as they faced Granada for the first time this season. With the sixth fixture kicking off this week for the 2014/15 season it seems like the Catalans are unstoppable. With 5 wins and a tie thus far, they hold first place in the LIGA BBVA standings with 16 points and Atlético Madrid and Valencia right behind them with 14 and 13 points respectively. Goalkeeper Claudio Bravo also has 6 clean sheets and did not allow any goals go past his net.
We also saw Messi score his 400th career goal. He had 3 assists in today’s game and helped Neymar with a hat trick by giving him beautiful passes and also helping Ivan Rakitiç score in the first half. Barcelona, as usual, had most of the possession during the game with a 69% possession and having 12 shots on target out of 19 shots in total.
As the first half kicked off, Granada gave the Catalans a couple scares, as they had to defend and do their best to make sure they didn’t get in the scoreboard. A couple chances by Messi were also seen, but his first goal was taken away as a late flag from the assistant referee ruled otherwise. There were other chances but these didn’t matter until the half-hour mark came into play.
In the 27th minute, we saw Neymar score his first goal and put Barcelona on the scoreboard. It all stemmed from a poor back pass from Hector Yuste who undersold his teammate that allowed Neymar to pounce, and one-on-one with the Granada defense, he went one way then another until he was able to get a clear shot which was still deflected by the Granada defense but it wasn’t enough as the ball still went through the net.
In the 41st minute, we saw Ivan Rakitiç put up Barca 2-0 as Lionel Messi assisted him from the right side of the field. With help from Dani Alvez and Munir, it was Messi who was the creator and used his skills to get past his marker and cross the ball to find Rakitiç who was unmarked and headed the ball into the far corner.
Granada was suffering after this and on Barcelona’s next attack they scored again. Lionel Messi was again creating the play as he found Munir in the front who wasn’t able to get his shot away quick enough and was smothered by goalkeeper Roberto, only for the ball to land in front of Neymar and allow him to make his second goal of the game.
As the first half ended, Barcelona was up 3-0 thanks to Rakitic and two goals from Neymar but the treachery didn’t end here. In the 61st minute, we saw Barcelona attack once again and this time it was Dani Alvez who assisted Messi by lifting the ball over the defense to find Lionel Messi who was lying in wait to head home and score his first goal of the game put up Barca 4-0.
In the 65th minute, Barcelona was once again attacking and it was Xavi who was running the show as he was given time and space to do his thing. He was able then to find Messi with a reverse pass and then as Messi looked at the goal, he found Neymar with a cutback. The Brazilian was able to find the net for the third time, putting up Barca up 5-0 and giving Neymar his hat trick of the night.
As if 5 goals weren’t enough, and one for Messi, they found the net again in the 81st minute. Messi and Xavi were able to forced a save before the Barca was presented with another chance thanks to a mistake from the Granada defense. Messi was able to go one-on-one with defense and then the goalkeeper to find the net, putting up Barca up 6-0 and allowing Messi to score his second of the night.
With Messi scoring two goals against Granada, he entered the 400th goal club playing only 358 games for FC Barcelona and 42 for the Argentinian national team. Neymar was also impressive getting three in the net and playing as the Neymar we have seen in the Brazilian national team.
If FC Barcelona continue to play this way, who knows how dangerous they will be this season and just wait until we see Luis Suarez play his first game for the team, they could become even more dangerous.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
