Suarez strikes as Barca bash Cordoba - 7M sport

Suarez strikes as Barca bash Cordoba



Posted Sunday, December 21, 2014 by Marca.com

Suarez strikes as Barca bash Cordoba

Barcelona ended 2014 on a high note with a 5-0 victory over Cordoba on Saturday evening at the Camp Nou.

Pedro scored in the first minutes of the match, Luis Suarez opened his La Liga scoring account early in the second half, Gerard Pique tallied a goal and Lionel Messi added a late brace to help the Catalonians collect all three points.

Manager Luis Enrique surprised many by naming Martin Montoya in his starting defense, along with Pique, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba in front of goalkeeper Claudio Bravo. In midfield it was Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and Andres Iniesta, while in attack it was Suarez, Messi and Pedro, who once again subbed in Neymar; the Brazilian is recently recuperated from an injury and was named to the bench for Saturday's match.

After failing to find the back of the net during the 90 minutes last week in Getafe, it didn't even take 90 seconds for Barcelona to score against the Andalusians as Rakitic lifted a ball into Pedro, who showed superb control in hauling the ball in, and fired in past Cordoba goalkeeper Juan Carlos to make it 1-0.

But Cordoba did not let the early Barcelona goal get them down and had a chance to draw level in the 19th minute but Ghilas' charge into the Barcelona half ended with a shot wide into the side-netting. Minutes later it was Borja coming close for the visitors as his long-range effort almost got the better of Bravo at the near post.
 
Yet between the two Barcelona were clearly the more dangerous side and had numerous chances to double the lead before the break, but were unable to do so despite the best efforts of Pedro and Iniesta, who each stood out during the first 45 minutes.
 
Barcelona's best chance to add a second came just seconds before the break as Pique's header was tipped over the bar by Juan Carlos.

The moment that all Barcelona fans had been waiting for arrived in the 52nd minute as Suarez finally opened his La Liga scoring account. Iniesta played a ball out wide left to Pedro and the Canarian then played a ball back across to Suarez, who did well to control and then slip a shot past Juan Carlos to make it 2-0. It was Suarez's third goal of the season, the first two coming in the Champions League, and his first tally in league play.

Barcelona started piling it on in the final ten minutes with Pique making it 3-0. Substitute Xavi swung in a free kick and Pique charged into the area to smack in a header from close-range.

Messi got in on the fun two minutes later when Cordoba failed to clear a corner kick and the ball fell to Messi who curled a shot into the top right part of the net. For good measure Messi scored another in the 91st to make it a 5-0 final as he gathered in a pass on the right side of the box, turned and fired in a right-footer to finish the scoring.

Upon returning from the winter break, Barcelona will head to San Sebastian to face Real Sociedad in what is traditionally tricky fixture for Luis Enrique's men.



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