Barcelona Thump Real Zaragoza

Ronaldinho may not be playing at the moment but Barcelona and in particular, Lionel Messi, proved far too hot for Real Zaragoza on Wednesday night. Messi, still only 20, inspired Barcelona to a 4 - 1 home victory at the Camp Nou with two goals.

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi

The young Argentine striker has stepped up to lead a side that started the season poorly and, in the absence of an out-of-sorts Ronaldinho, he has been the central figure in their three wins over the last seven days.

The game at the Camp Nou started at a break neck pace with Messi terrorising Zaragoza’s defence. It didn’t take long for the damage to be done as Messi scored twice in the first 11 minutes. Messi cut in from the right, ran across the edge of the area and curled in Henry’s deft lay-off, that was after 5 minutes.

However, Real soon levelled the scoring after Messi’s first through Alberto Zapater on 10 minutes. However only a minute later, the action was back down the other end of the pitch as Deco tried to get through a crowd of players on the edge of the area. Messi nipped in and tucked the ball away.

As well as scoring two of his own, Messi also set up the third Barca goal for Andres Iniesta. The fourth was added by the Mexican defender Rafael Marquez just before the break as Barca left Zaragoza chasing shadows and wondering what hit them.

Barca had a whole host of chances in the second half to add to their tally however, Henry in particular was guilty of missing excellent chances.

After the game the Zaragoza coach Victor Fernandez said of Messi, “He is probably the best player in the world at the moment, not only for the goals but for his all round play.

With this victory Barcelona climbed into third place in La Liga on 11 points, one point behind the leaders Villareal and Valencia.

Villareal moved into the top spot for the first time in their history with a 2 - 0 win at Racing Santander. Valencia Beat struggling Getafe 2 - 1 at the Mestalla with goals from the Spanish duo of David Villa and David Silva.

The current Champions Real Madrid have 10 points from 4 games and are in fourth place. They host Real Betis at the Bernabeu on Thursday night.

Meanwhile Real’s neighbours Atletico Madrid climbed into fifth place on eight points with a 2 - 0 win at Athletic Bilbao.

What’s interesting to me is when will Ronaldinho be back for Barca? When will Rijkaard pick him and will he be back to his best form? If he is, it will be a mouth-watering prospect with Messi in this form.

The Soccer Blogger