Messi guides Barcelona to victory after chaotic journey

Sat, 04 Dec 2010

Madrid - Barcelona won 3-0 on Saturday at Osasuna with two goals from Lionel Messi, despite a chaotic journey to chilly Pamplona.

Barca's eighth consecutive league win leaves them five points ahead of Real Madrid atop La Liga. Real are at home later Saturday to fifth-place Valencia.

The kickoff in snowy Pamplona was delayed for 45 minutes because Barca had to make the 500-kilometer trip by train and coach, amid air travel chaos due to a wildcat strike by air-traffic controllers.

The Catalans finally drove into Pamplona exactly at kick-off time, but the start was delayed while they got changed and warmed up.

Roared on by a capacity crowd, Osasuna made an aggressive start but lacked penetration in attack. Barca gradually established their habitual control in midfield and went ahead in the 26th minute.

Messi set up Pedro with an inch-perfect through-ball, and little winger made it 1-0 with a calm, low drive.

Messi then hit the post with one of his left-foot shots as Barca's domination continued.

The impish Argentine made it 2-0 in the 65th minute by racing onto a pass from David Villa and beating slow Osasuna keeper Ricardo. Eight minutes from time, Messi was pulled down for a penalty by defender Sergio and made no mistake with his spot-kick.

Messi is now level atop the scorers' chart with Real's Cristiano Ronaldo on 15 goals.

Earlier Saturday, Atletico Madrid's crisis had continued with a 2- 0 defeat at lowly Levante.

Last week, Atletico lost 3-2 at home against Espanyol and Aris Salonika. On Saturday, they fell behind early when Levante defender Nano headed in from close range after Atletico's young goalkeeper David de Gea had made a mess of a corner.

De Gea, 20, was a teenage hero in May when Atletico won the Europa League, but he is looking shaky at the moment.

Levante were in the driving seat throughout the match, and Ecuadorean striker Felipe Caicedo made it 2-0 in the 59th minute with a fierce left-foot drive, after being played through by Juanlu.

Atletico are stranded in seventh place with 20 points from 13 games. The defeat leaves coach Quique Sanchez Flores in jeopardy for the first time since he took over 13 months ago from Abel Resino.

Quique said: "We are in a moment of difficulty and crisis. But we cannot stop. We have to put ourselves back together again. We cannot let ourselves become depressed."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356610,barcelona-victory-chaotic-journey.html.