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Well,
if the entire of Europe is writing you off, your two main rivals are
snapping at your heels like sharks and you’re facing a total collapse in
the league, you may as well go out and beat Deportivo 8-0 to let
everyone know quite how wrong they are. Suarez was sensational - three assists and a hat-trick. Wow. Thanks for reading, do go and join Barry Glendenning who is following Liverpool v Everton here, while Tim Hill is on Manchester United v Crystal Palace duty here. For the rest of the La Liga goals and results, look no further than here. Bye!
There’s
just time for Suarez to whistle a shot over the bar, before the referee
blows the final whistle on the dot of 90 minutes, putting the home side
out of their misery without a second of injury time.
89 min: Neymar attempts to lift the ball over
the Deportivo defence and Sidnei, for about the first time in the match,
decides to track the runner - Messi, in this case - and shepherds him
out of play. Deportivo have been awful in the second half but could have
had goals in the first.
86 min: On the bench, Barcelona’s substitutes
are asking what the score is in Bilbao. 1-0, they’re told, to Atlético.
And despite the fact their side are 8-0 up and having a ball,
Barcelona’s subs look tense and taut on the bench, frustrated that
they’ve let themselves get in this position.
85 min: There hasn’t been a goal in the last few
minutes. People want their money back. Fede attempts one, striking from
30 yards, but Bravo catches the ball dismissively.
Messi
to Saurez, Suarez across the box to Neymar and, cantering across the
area, the Brazilian smashes the ball home. Imagine being Real Madrid in
the changing room now thinking they’ve got to match it.
Neymar controls the ball prior to scoring Photograph: Miguel Riopa/AFP/Getty Images
and celebrates. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images
This
is getting silly, Bartra, the central defender, simply runs the ball
from the centre circle right through the middle of the Deportivo defence
and slides the ball home from 15 yards. Ridiculously good goal,
ridiculously poor defending.
Bartra celebrates number seven. Photograph: Miguel Riopa/AFP/Getty Images
76 min: The goals might come at the other end,
that said. Laure is again free up the right and again crosses well. This
time he finds Gutierrez, who heads over from not very far out at all.
Depotivo could very easily have four, if not five goals. Barcelona’s
front three (well, maybe not Neymar) might be back on track, but their
defence isn’t.
74 min: This isn’t over yet by a long chalk, and
it’s telling that Luis Enrique has used all his substitutions (having
used none against Valencia) but left his three frontmen on. He’s keen to
make a statement here.
So
simple. Suarez checks inside and darts into the box, crosses to Messi
(who had lost Sidnei) with ease and he passes the ball into the next
from 10 yards.
Messi celebrates with Suarez. Photograph: Miguel Vidal/Reuters
71 min: More substitutions: Adriano replaces Jordi Alba at left back and Rafinha comes on for Sergio for Barcelona. For Depor, the former Newcastle man Jonas Gutierrez replaces Celso Borges and that’s three substitutions each.
69 min: Lucas misses a sitter. Laure, unmarked
on the right wing, pings in a great cross to the middle and finds the
striker alone in the middle. From five yards, he manages to knock the
ball high over the bar. Probably wouldn’t have changed the way the game
is going but still.
66 min: Deportivo aren’t entirely lying down and taking this, and trot up the other end following the fifth Barcelona
goal. Oriel Riera has a decent chance but complains (with some
justification) that he was pulled over. He wins a corner but little
comes of it from the home side’s point of view.
64 min: Neymar could certainly have scored there - are Barcelona now simply teeing Suarez up so that he wins the Pichichi? Stranger things have happened.
A
long ball is launched into the Depor box and Neymar is on the end of
it. He runs rapidly into the box and with the goal at his mercy … passes
to Suarez when he could have scored himself. Suarez has one shot, which
Laure blocks, then another which goes into the back of the net.
Suarez score number five. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images
61 min: Deportivo have changed tack, the plan
now appears to be to get the ball wide then cross. It’s made them look a
touch more threatening in the last few minutes with Laure clumping a
decent ball over from the right.
59 min: Lucas, by far Deportivo’s most threatening player, thwacks a fierce shot at the Barcelona
goal from 12 yards or so. Bravo makes another good stop, his palms
stinging as though they’ve been flayed and dipped in Deep Heat no doubt. “I’ve
come to this late, but from what I can see Depor seem to be taking
their duties as hosts exceptionally seriously,” writes Charles Antaki.
“I don’t think I’ve seen more generosity on a football pitch all season.
Are they resting for some other event coming up?
58 min: Substitution o’clock. The central
defender Navarro is hoiked by Deportivo and is replaced by Fayçal Fajr,
an attacking, creative midfielder. Yet to see how they’re going to
reshuffle that. Next, Cani jogs off for Fede Cartabia. For Barcelona, Iniesta trots off and is replaced by Sergi Roberto.
56 min: A quick corner from Deportivo catches the referee off guard but not Barcelona. They whizz the ball around the edge of the Barcelona
box, before attempting to play a Messi-esque ball into Lucas (on a
Suarez-esque run). They don’t get the same result, though do get a
corner.
54 min: That was like something from the
training ground, with Deportivo’s defence playing a wonderful supporting
role as a bunch of cones. Suarez gave and went, via Messi, and not a
single Deportivo defender bothered to track him into the box.
Incredible, really. Barcelona are coasting now (cue five goals from Deportivo).
GOAL! Deportivo 0-4 Barcelona (Suarez, 52 min, hat-trick)
Suarez
to Messi, Messi to Saurez with the Uruguayan free and clear of the
Deportivo defence with not a single one of them picking him up, and he
slots it home from the penalty spot. Shocking defending from Deportivo.
Suarez scores his hat-trick, Barcelona’s fourth. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images
Suarez celebrates his hat-trick. Photograph: Miguel Riopa/AFP/Getty Images
51 min: Alves rakes a long ball into the box,
which is instantly controlled by Suarez. Again he cuts back to Messi but
he can’t get a shot away. There’s some dillying and dallying frmo Barcelona,
and eventually Deportivo force them back out and up the pitch. Oddly
flat at the Riazor, noise-wise. Well, perhaps not that oddly, given
their side are 0-3 down.
49 min: Dani Alves heaves a cross into the box,
which is nodded back out by Mosquera but only to Rakitic. His shot this
time is not remarkably efficient, it is in fact a blooter that goes well
wide of Manu’s left hand post.
48 min: An exquisite goal, really. So fast, so
simple and so deadly with Suarez’s cross over the top of the Deportivo
defence a sign of such awareness and Rakitic’s finish remarkably
efficient. A moment later, they nearly do it again with Suarez cutting
the ball back to Messi, who strikes wide (Suarez was offside too).
20:04GOAL! Deportivo 0-3 Barcelona (Rakitic, 45 min)
Neymar
whizzes into the box, offloads to Suarez on the left, who picks out
Rakitic completely unmarked over the other side of the area and he
knocks it home first time. Is that the end of Barça’s blip?
46 min: Deportivo come out all guns blazing,
shoving three up front. For a brief minute in the opening moments, it
looks as if it might work but then …
Barcelona
get the second half started. Messi is fit enough after his little twist
and shake at the end of the first half and trots out much as if nothing
had happened.
The last time these sides met, in December, Deportivo came right back from 2-0 down and won it. Second half coming up shortly but, here’s some reading in the general area of comebacks:
Public service announcement: Barry Glendenning is sitting next to me, tapping away furiously in the buildup to the Merseyside derby: follow Liverpool v Everton with him here.
Deportivo La Coruña 0-8 Barcelona: La Liga
Reviewed by Unknown
on
11:59:00
Rating: 5
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