Barcelona vs. Granada: Score, Grades and Reaction from La Liga Game
Barcelona picked up a straightforward win at home against Granada on Saturday afternoon, taking victory by a 6-0 scoreline at Camp Nou.
"Barcelona keep a clean sheet in their first 5 matches of a Liga season for first time since 1977/78 #fcblive [via @infostradalive]
— barcastuff (@barcastuff) September 24, 2014"
Half a chance at either end within the opening 60 seconds was snuffed out by good defending—firstly Jeison Murillo doing well to clear inside his six-yard box from a Dani Alves cross before Jeremy Mathieu sprinted back to make a challenge on the edge of his own six-yard box.
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The biggest early chance of the game fell the way of Youssef El-Arabi who, while lying on the ground, managed to poke a shot past Claudio Bravo in the Barcelona goal, but the ball rebounded off the crossbar and flew over the bar, leaving Barcelona's clean-sheet record for the season intact.
Barcelona then should have taken the lead on 10 minutes, when Mathieu knocked a cross back along the goal line for Munir to run onto, but the young forward could only divert the ball away from goal instead of over the line from two yards out. Lionel Messi then put the ball in the net two minutes later, only to see the offside flag deny him a 400th career goal for club and country.
The delivery from wide on both flanks was excellent early on for the Barcelona, with Alves in fine form with his buildup play and delivery in the first quarter of the game.
An ambitious effort from Hector Yuste tried to catch Bravo off his line, before Xavi tried a long-range effort too. Neither were successful in their attempts, but it was an indication of the "to and fro" nature of the game.
Moments later, Barcelona were ahead, though, after a bad error by Yuste.
His pass infield was made under pressure but directed straight to Neymar, who ran at the defence and shot early, with the effort deflecting over goalkeeper Roberto and into the net for the opening goal on 25 minutes:
"Neymar scores (with a little help from a defender) http://t.co/bh4GxjL8jL
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) September 27, 2014"
While Mathieu continued to defend well at the other end, Messi and Neymar continued to make runs behind the Granada back line and cause problems for the Andalusian side. Similarly, El Arabi and Isaac Success tried to spring away on the counter for the away team, with the latter heading over a cross from the former on the break.
Five minutes before the break, it looked as though Granada would get to half-time still in touch, but a late devastating two-goal spree for Barca ended those hopes.
First Messi clipped a cross in for Ivan Rakitic to head home from close range, before a Messi through ball freed Munir, Roberto raced out to save but had to watch Neymar run in and curl the loose ball home for 3-0.
After the break, naturally the tempo and atmosphere dropped somewhat with the game won, with Barcelona content to retain possession and wait to tempt Granada out of shape.
The first big effort on goal came from a Xavi free-kick, which beat the wall—but not Roberto—as the veteran stopper brought out a big dive to his left to beat away the ball.
Moments later, Messi freed Munir for a free run and shot at the goal down the right channel, but the young forward scuffed his effort wide. The No. 10 was in inventive mood again as he skipped past a challenge and set up Adriano for a curled effort, but the left-back was off target too.
Then came the moment the stadium had been waiting for:
"Lionel Messi scores the 400th goal of his career. He's only 27. #Messi400 http://t.co/3EkPS9th0t
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) September 27, 2014"
Messi ghosted in at the far post to nod home from close range, the finishing touch on a fantastic sweeping move that saw Xavi play wide and Alves cross first time, with the end header being Barcelona's fourth and Messi's 400th goal for club and country.
The celebrations for that goal had barely died down when they surfaced again—this time for Neymar's hat-trick after a swift exchange of passes ended in Messi setting up his forward team-mate once again.
Granada wilted visibly thereafter, and another awful defensive error saw Murillo gift the ball to Messi 30 yards out, leading to the Argentine racing through to clip home his second of the game and Barcelona's sixth.
Success wanted a penalty late on and Eddy blasted over the bar, but Barcelona's clean-sheet record remained intact at the start of this season as they racked up another huge win.
Grades
Lionel Messi: A
"Lionel Messi’s 400th career goal at 27. Breaking down those numbers #Messi400 Watch: http://t.co/dtGuEL2v7S pic.twitter.com/Fph17GGjqm
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) September 27, 2014"
At his creative finest once again, a role he has assumed this season with aplomb alongside being a goal threat. The hunger on and off the ball movement was once again in evidence, with Granada affording him more freedom on the pitch than Malaga did midweek. Messi scored a debated and disallowed goal early on before setting up one goal and being involved in another before the break.
His creative side was evident after the break too as he set up a string of shooting chances, but importantly for the forward, he also found the net twice, including his 400th career goal.
Neymar: B
The Brazilian was in fine poaching form in the first half to nab two goals, one a deflected effort and another an opportunistic follow-up finish. His hat-trick after the break meant his incredible goals-per-minutes-on-the-pitch rate this season took another climb too.
He was, though, a little quiet at times and not really at the top of his game, being decisive certainly, but by no means at the level of Messi, Xavi or Dani Alves.
Luis Enrique: A
The manager made changes to his Barcelona side again, bringing in Xavi for a rare start and seeing the likes of Munir and Dani Alves back into the team. The latter was impressive and important in the early stages, while the decision to leave Rakitic in the team was clearly to keep up the energy and movement from the centre, a necessity in this side.
Two goals just before half-time made the game pretty safe for Enrique's side before they had to put in too much more effort as the game went on. Even so, he was relentless in his asking the team to press, attack and be clinical, while he rested the likes of Rakitic and Sergio early in the second half ahead of a big Champions League tie.
Isaac Success: C+
The young Nigerian forward was the biggest threat for Granada in the first half, with his pace and willing running from deep giving his side an out-ball.
Although he was clearly quicker than Mathieu and Javier Mascherano, he didn't quite have the control to punish them during counter-attacks that always had to be made at breakneck speed and were sometimes a long time in between each one.
Post-Match Reaction
Reaction will appear shortly after full time.
