Barça put on a show

Barcelona produced a domineering display against Valencia in Mestalla and put any talk of away day problems behind them as Samuel Eto'o scored twice in the first half and Eidur Gudjohnsen added a third after the break. Frank Rijkaard's side employed their quick passing football to devastating effect as they recorded their second away victory of the season and added to Valencia's woes in their own stadium. Eto'o was clinical in front of goal, while the defence and midfield looked strong and secure as they prevented Valencia from creating any real chances of note.

Dominating effect
From the start it was clear that Barça were the more confident side as they moved the ball around and looked for ways through the Valencia defence. The home side were forced to sit back and only edge forward when they could on the counter-attack. In the opening half all the best chances came at one end as Santi Cañizares had a busy evening.

Eto’o on form
In the 12th minute, the Blaugrana capitalised on their domination as Messi picked out Eto'o in the area and Cameroonian striker skipped past two defenders before creating space to drive the ball past Cañizares and into the top corner of the net. The strike was Eto'o's first goal in the league this season, after he opened his account in the Champions League in midweek.

A second arrived after 26 minutes and again the same pair created the move. after a superb string of passes, Messi picked up the ball just outside the area before threading it to Eto'o and he hit it first time to leave Cañizares flat-footed and unable to react as the shot flew past him.

Messi injured
There was some bad news in the opening period for Barça as Lionel Messi limped out of the action after picking up an injury three minutes before the break. The Argentinian was replaced by Giovani Dos Santos and is set to miss the visit of Real Madrid next weekend.



Looking for four
Despite having a comfortable lead, the visitors looked to continue pushing forward in the second half and, although Valencia pushed further up the field to try and break up Barça's passing game, a third goal came. Dos Santos picked up a loose ball on the right of the area and edged forward before rolling a pass across goal where Gudjohnsen was able to tap home from close range.

Giovani goes close
In the closing minutes, there were chances for Rijkaard's side to add to their tally as Dos Santos had chance si the 74th and 76th minute, while Bojan Krkic warmed Cañizares' gloves with a shot. While they were unable to find a fourth goal, Barça enjoyed a comfortable victory against a Valencia side that rarely looked likely or capable of causing many problems and confidence is now high in the camp ahead of the visit of Madrid.

The goals :

0-1, Eto'o (min 12)
0-2, Eto'o (min 26)
0-3, Gudjohnsen (min 61)


Source : FCB