5-Star Barcelona Dismantle Mallorca in Messi's Absence (and Abidal Returns)

In every crisis, an opportunity.

Not that Lionel Messi’s hamstring injury—suffered against PSG in the Champions League—and resulting absence from Saturday’s Primera Division match against Mallorca was ever, really, going to mark the start of a crisis at Barcelona.

Not when La Liga’s champions-elect could still put out a side that included Andres Iniesta. And just to show how much faith they had in their squad depth, the Catalans left David Villa, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets on the bench and didn’t even include Xavi Hernandez in the matchday squad.

And they still won 5-0. A crisis, indeed.

Of course, there was still a job to do. Coming into the match, returning manager Tito Vilanova—back at Camp Nou after his latest round of cancer treatment—would surely have hoped two of his players, in particular, would be able to rise to the occasion presented them by the squad turnover.

Those players were Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez, and both stepped up big time on Saturday.

Fabregas, who had been experiencing a dip in form that saw him start only five of Barcelona’s last 11 matches, was especially impressive and got the rout underway in the 19th minute when he initiated a neat one-two with Sanchez that left him with a basic finish from in close to open the scoring.

Less than two minutes later, Sanchez, with just seven starts in Barcelona’s last 16 matches, bagged one for himself after pouncing on the rebound left by Fabregas’ initial effort.

Both would score again before the half-time whistle, and before the first minute had ticked off the clock following the restart, Fabregas had completed his hat-trick—his first in club football. This happened after he received Iniesta’s exquisite pass on the run, then paused to cut delicately onto his other foot and then slotted the ball past goalkeeper Dudu Aouate.

By that point it was job-done for Fabregas, Sanchez and the makeshift Barcelona side as a whole. In the 49th minute, Vilanova began making his substitutions with an eye to next week’s return match against PSG.

First it was Iniesta who was sent for an early bath and replaced by Jonathan dos Santos, and in the 65th minute Fabregas came off in favour of up-and-coming striker Gerard Deulofeu.

Then, with 20 minutes left to play, there was a moment of true, sincere emotion that brought all in the stadium to their feet.

After a brief prayer on the sideline, Eric Abidal replaced Gerard Pique, and in so doing completed a comeback more than a year in the making. Having last featured for Barcelona in February 2012, the Frenchman had undergone a liver transplant 13 months ago, but after a long recovery and four months of intense training he finally made his competitive return against Mallorca.

They may have been without Messi, but Barcelona had plenty to feel good about on Saturday.

And PSG, who will have to score at Camp Nou if they hope to continue their Champions League adventure, were no doubt watching in horror more than 500 miles away. 

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