1-4 is a bit misleading: Nilmar squandered two golden opportunities before Messi opened the scoring, and these highlights did not show another Valdes error that we failed to convert on. Bad luck on Barca's first goal, as Godin made a great block but the ball ricocheted past Diego Lopez. Some questions about Diego Lopez's positioning on Xavi's free kick, though, along with horrific defending by Gonzalo on Bojan's tally.
Wonder if Llorente had a knock, as Garrido spoke of playing the same formation in both halves (before Joseba entered as a substitute). But no harm done in the standings: Getafe drew and Athletic lost. So we remain in 6th place with 3 rounds to go.
Wonderful win for the B team against a promotion candidate. Elche fought back after going two goals and a man down, but Jefferson Montero immediately scored his brace to seal the result. For that, he got a slap in the face from an Elche player. Stay classy.
Some news and notes:
- Llorente predicted Athletic would beat Mallorca. Good thing he was wrong.
- And now we find out that Llorente, not Busquets, received a yellow card late in Saturday's match. Initially it seemed that Busquets received a second yellow and then was substituted off. Maletines, anyone? But we would have lost anyhow.
- Capdevila will miss Tuesday's game in Almeria due to his 5th yellow card of the season. 6 other players (Cani, Gonzalo, Ibagaza, Javi Venta, Marcano, and Pires) are one yellow away from suspension.
- From the club website: recaps of the Barcelona and Elche matches.