Barcelona loses Lionel Messi to knee injury

 Barcelona, La Liga  No Responses »
Sep 282015
 

Barcelona star Lionel Messi is set to be on the sidelines for at least 8 weeks after tearing his knee ligament in their 2-1 win over Las Palmas on Saturday. The treble winners still managed to win the game despite losing their star man just minutes into the first half. Lionel Messi tore his ligament after colliding in an awkward way with an opponent as he tried to shot from the edge of the area. The four time ballon d’or winner was left on the ground wriggling in pain after the tackle as the team medics came to his rescue. He received treatments on the sidelines and returned to action but he couldn’t deal with the pain and was substituted shortly.

At the end of the match, the team confirmed the news of Messi’s injury which would require about two months off the pitch to heal. Barcelona would now have to rely on the likes of Neymar and Luis Suarez to keep the team on top until Messi’s return. Situations like this was one the reasons why Barcelona bought Brazilian striker Neymar and he would have to step forward and fill in the void left by Messi. Eight weeks out means Messi would miss Barcelona’s league games against Sevilla, Rayo Vallecano, Eibar, Getafe and Villareal. After these matches comes the international break which would give the player more time to relax. But just after the international break is their league match against Real Madrid. If there are no complications with his recovery, the Argentine player would be back in time to face their rivals but Barcelona would prefer to have him play at least one match before that game or he could just sit that one out as well.

Barcelona suffer shock defeat at Estadio de Balaídos

 Barcelona  No Responses »
Sep 242015
 

Two goals from Iago Aspas and one each from Nolito and Guidetti sealed the win for Celta Vigo on Wednesday night. Nolito opened the scoring in the 26th minute of the game, he later went on to set up two goals for Liverpool reject Iago Aspas. Although , Neymar was able to pull one back for Barcelona from a tight spot but Celta Vigo wasn’t going to tolerate any comebacks from them and they passed the message across by scoring one more to make it 4-1, this time Guidetti was the goal scorer. It is true that Celta started the game in a good form but the first real threat came from Messi when he a released a shot and forced a brilliant save from Sergio Alvarez.

Lionel Messi had a good chance to get a goal for his team early in the second half only for his effort to hit the wood work. Following the victory Celta have now taken 13 points from five La Liga games and are now top of the table on equal points with Real Madrid. This loss happens to be the first for Barcelona this season, their worse result before this was in the midweek when Alessandro Florenzi scored a stunning goal to restore parity between the two sides. Barcelona would be hoping to get back to scoring ways when they meet Las Palmas this weekend but this lose would make one question the effectiveness of their front three that was dubbed as the best in Europe last season.

Messi misses spot kick as Barcelona cruise to easy victory

 Barcelona, La Liga, Levante  No Responses »
Sep 212015
 

Goals from Lionel Messi, Neymar and Marc Bartra helped Barcelona cruise to a 4-1 win over Levante to maintain their perfect start to the season. The Catalans saw a lot of chances in the first half wasted due to sloppy finishes, but they later made up for their misfiring in the second half as they produced four goals to wrap up the game. Though Victor Casadesus did reduce the deficit but the Levante team never really posed a threat for the rest of the game. Lionel Messi fired a penalty over the cross bar in the 75th minute of the game having scored the previous one he was given. The victory see Barcelona return to the top of the La Liga table with 12 points from four matches.

Barcelona did start the game on a high note as a combination of passes between Messi and Neymar in the 6th minute gave them a chance at goal but young Munir’s effort ended up hitting the side netting. In the following minutes, Messi had his chance only for his shot to be blocked by the defender and the follow up to that ended up in the keeper’s arms. Barcelona continued to push for that opener as Neymar, Sandro and Munir squandered opportunities to put the team ahead. On the other side, Levante should have gotten the lead but Nabil Ghilas couldn’t control his shot from close range after passing Mascherano. The first half ended goal-less but it didn’t take long before Barcelona broke the deadlock 5 minutes into second half with Bartra tapping home from close range following a cross from Lionel Messi.  From here, the goals started flowing in for Barcelona but the host also got one for themselves.