Barcelona 0 : 0 Deportivo La Coruna - Barca back-ups draw blank

Posted Sunday, May 15, 2011 by PA

A second-string Barcelona side were held to a goalless draw by relegation-threatened Deportivo La Coruna in the penultimate round of Primera Division matches at the Nou Camp.

The league title was wrapped up with a draw at Levante on Wednesday night and, with a Champions League final meeting with Manchester United to come at the end of the month, coach Pep Guardiola named an experimental side.

Goalkeeper Victor Valdes, defender Eric Abidal and midfielder Javier Mascherano - all regular starters - were joined in the first 11 by a handful of youngsters, including Andreu Fontas, Marc Bartra, Jeffren Suarez, Jonathan dos Santos and Thiago Alcantara.

Many of those players have barely featured this season, but they were given a guard of honour by Deportivo as they came onto the pitch.

Valdes made a double save from Adrian Lopez and Lassad Nouioui after just two minutes.

Juan Carlos Valeron then came close to opening the scoring for the Galicians when he dragged a low shot wide of the target after 16 minutes.

Barca began to settle down after that, however, and Ibrahim Afellay was particularly impressive for the Catalans.

The Dutch forward found his way past several Depor defenders, but was dispossessed just before he could shoot, and later sent a volley wide of Daniel Aranzubia's goal.

Bojan Krkic, back from injury, almost got on the end of an excellent cross from substitute Dani Alves - which needed just a touch - early in the second half.

The loose ball fell to Jeffren, but the Venezuela-born forward was off target with his effort.

Alves later forced Aranzubia into a decent save and Bojan charged his way through the Depor defence before losing the ball as the home side looked the more likely to break the deadlock.

The visitors appeared to have decided that a point here would be a good result.

But they could and probably should have won it right at the death, when substitute Riki went clean through on goal, only to be denied by a brilliant save from Valdes.

Moments earlier, veteran Valeron had been given an ovation by both sets of fans as he departed the action.

But the ovations were reserved solely for Barca's stars after the game, in a colourful celebration which saw the team presented with the league trophy.

The squad and coaching staff then embarked on a lap of honour, before a firework display and light show to music finished off the season in style in Barca's last game at the Nou Camp this term.

With one game left, Barca are four points ahead of Real Madrid, who beat Villarreal 3-1.

Deportivo, meanwhile, are in 17th and are one of six teams that can follow Almeria and Hercules down to the Segunda Division next week.