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Barca youth rise above BATE

Comment: 0 December 7th, 2011 by: admin

A YOUNG Barcelona squad devoid of Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and its other powerhouses took the field and demolished BATE Borisov 4-0 in a Champions League match last Tuesday.

The lineup, whose average age was a mere 22.7 came on after manager Pep Guardiola decided to allow the more senior members to rest in preparation for the upcoming El Clasico match set for this weekend at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Barca’s victory saw them advance from the group stage of the competition and officially enter the last 16 stage.

The young Catalans’ victorious run began with 19-year old Sergi Roberto who, after a decent attempt to find the net a minute before, netted the first of Barca’s series of goals 10 minutes before the end of the first half.

This was followed by attempts from Pedro and Roberto, both of whom were denied by the BATE defence.  A successful shot was taken by Fontas, but was waved off and flagged as offside.

Barcelona’s next goal would come care of 20-year old Montoya, who dashed forward to meet 20-year old Isaac Cuenca’s pass down the middle and rocket it into the net in the 60^th minute.

Three minutes after netting the ball, Montoya was seen seemingly aiming for a pass at Cuenca but instead passed to Pedro, who did a backflick to give Barca their third goal against the labouring BATE.

The fourth and final goal came in the form of a penalty shot by Pedro in the 89^th minute, giving him his 50^th goal for Barcelona, as well as the Catalans’ 4-0 final score.

Aside from advancing Barcelona to the next stage, the match also came as a sweet opportunity for the rising stars in the B-team, such as 17-year old Gerard Deulofeu who proved his worth as one to watch out for in the coming years.

The match also saw the flailing BATE squad miserably get everything wrong, and be overplayed by Barca to finish dead last in the Group stage by game’s end.

There was no bridling Guardiola after the final score, as he beamed at the strength of the players just out of Barcelona’s La Masia academy.

‘This shows our youth teams are very strong,’ said Guardiola.  ‘These young players want to get a spot in the first team and they run a lot to try and earn it.’

The win gives Barca their 10^th straight victory at home overall, with the cumulative scores adding up to a staggering 40-0 clean sheet.

‘The club is very fortunate to have this generation of players to draw from.’

Other members of the lineup included 18-year old Rafinha, and his brother 20-year old Thiago Alcantara.

The victory saw Barca finish the group stage with 16 points, putting them 7 points over second placers Milan.  FC Viktoria Plzen finished third with 5 points, while BATE ended with 2.

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