When asked why Barcelona would exchange the swift Cameroonian striker, Samuel Eto'o for the agile, athletic Swede, Zlatan Ibrahimovic; Josep Guardiola replied that it was a, "Question of Feeling." Now, a year and a half after Barca's failed forward experiment, Guardiola has Villa. By all signs David Villa does have "feeling" with his coach and his Barcelona teammates and the result was on display Saturday. Barcelona erased Sevilla from the field 5 - 0.
The difference between this and previous Barca matches this year was the intensity the team brought to the field, the movement of David Villa in relation to his teammates, and the accuracy that Barcelona displayed in front of goal.
Those traits, maintained with focus, provided Barcelona with a killer instinct that they haven't shown so far this season. Rather than be content with a 2-0 lead, the Blaugrana were on the hunt for goals up to the very last minute of the game. When Sevilla went down to 10 men early in the second half, Guardiola's troops didn't show any mercy. This ruthless, relentless attitude is necessary for Barcelona to win the league. Their laughable ball-possession can put other teams to sleep but it can also put their own team to sleep. When Barcelona falls asleep, a savvy team with a fast forward can quickly score a goal or two and change the course of a game. When Barcelona displays the killer instinct that they had on Saturday, there are few teams that won't be blown out.
Lionel Messi got things started with a hard, low shot off of a rebound. The tangled human fence of bodies in front of him couldn't stop or slow down Lio's powerful shot.
Nowhere was Barcelona's "feeling" more evident than in the second goal. As Messi received the ball on the right near midfield, David Villa cleared right from his center position to make room for Messi. Lio moved forward and dished the ball off to Villa on the right. As Villa entered the box from the right, it looked like he would attempt to cross. Instead, he slipped past his marker and let loose a perfect shot with his left foot that exploded against the net, just inside the left post.
It was also Villa that put the finishing touches on the evening with a run across the face of goal, outside the box. As he ran from (his) right to left, his shot crossed the goalkeeper to find a home inside the right post of the goal.
Villa's run mimicked that of teammate Messi earlier in the game. Both had the ball for significant time, crossed from right to left and unleashed a shot shortly after passing the middle of the box.
It was this kind of movement that allowed Barcelona to find the scoring chances that they had been lacking earlier in the year. That movement was evident last week as Villa set up Messi twice in Barca's victory over Zaragoza. Against Sevilla, that movement paid off over and over again.
Now that Messi and Villa have developed an understanding, I think you can expect to see a profane amount of goals. These two players are so fast, so generous and so lethal in front of goal; that I expect them to break scoring records. Also, impressive was Pedro's work (see below how he embarrasses Konko out of the game) on the left. Will he be able to move up the goal-scorer's board?
It's good to see Barcelona get that scoring feeling back.
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