Barcelona narrowed the gap to leader Atlético Madrid to four points on Monday evening. The team of trainer Ronald Koeman had no problem with Huesca: 4-1. This was mainly due to Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann, who both scored a fabulous goal. For Messi it was his 767th game for Barcelona, with which the star attacker equals Xavi’s club record. Barça climbs to second place over Real Madrid, which has two points less.
Koeman decided to fully maintain his 5-2-3 midweek formation against Paris Saint-Germain. That meant that Frenkie de Jong again had to take care of the build-up in the five-man defense as a central defender. The midfield was played again by Sergio Busquets and Pedri, while Messi, Griezmann and Ousmane Dembélé had to pose a threat up front.
Barcelona started with clear attacking intentions, taking just thirteen minutes to produce its first goal. Messi cleverly took a tricky pass with the outside of his foot and placed the ball from the edge of the penalty area phenomenally into the cross. The ball entered the bottom of the crossbar: 1-0. Moments later, Marc-André ter Stegen picked a shot from Pablo Maffeo from the bottom corner on the other side.
After more than half an hour of play, Barcelona made another world goal. This time it was Antoine Griezmann with a hard shot from a great distance hit the left intersection: 2-0. Frenkie de Jong was then close to the third Catalan goal, but had to watch his bow ball being narrowly turned by Álvaro Fernandez. Barcelona came in a corner just before half-time due to a fairly incomprehensible penalty. According to referee Adrián Cordero Vega, Ter Stegen had tapped striker Rafa Mir, although the images did not appear to be there. The same Rafa Mir brought the tension back from the spot: 2-1.
Magnificent Messi! ??
De Vlo is doing great for Barca: 1-0 against Huesca ??
And that on his record night for the Catalans ???? #ZiggoSport #LaLiga #BarcaHuesca pic.twitter.com/8FOM7ioOii
– Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) March 15, 2021
Óscar Mingueza headed Barcelona in a safe haven eight minutes after the break, by timing perfectly with a corner kick from Messi: 3-1. On the other side, Rafa Mir was still very close to the tying goal five minutes later. The striker could have headed the ball into an empty goal, but decided to try with his chest and aimed over. Koeman decided in the 63rd minute to give De Jong a rest and brought Ronald Araújo in front of his fellow countryman. Messi could have increased the score after passing goalkeeper Fernandez, but aimed at the roof of the goal from a great distance. The Argentinian still managed to make his second, by shooting the ball from about twenty meters through the foot of Jorge Pulido with some fortune: 4-1.