Almería: Diego Alves; Michel Macedo,
Carlos García, Acasiete, Juanma Ortíz; Mbami, Bernadello, Vargas;
Corona, Goitom, Piatti. 4-3-3.
Barcelona: Víctor
Valdés; Dani Alves, Puyol, Fontás, Maxwell; Xavi (Thiago 46'),
Mascherano, Iniesta (Keita 46'); Messi, David Villa, Pedro (Bojan 55'). 4-3-3.
Goals:
0-1. 15. Messi. Picked up return pass from Villa and
struck low shot past Alves.
0-2. 18. Iniesta. Lifted shot over keeper after
his cross came back off defender.
0-3. 26. Acasiete (own goal). Turned ball
in to net trying to clear Maxwell cross.
0-4. 34. Pedro. Ran on to long
ball from Fontás to roll shot past keeper.
0-5. 36. Messi. Scored at
second attempt after Alves blocked first shot.
0-6. 61. Bojan. Took Messi
pass and held off defenders to chip keeper.
0-7. 66. Messi. Following up
after Alves could only push out shot from Villa.
0-8. 72. Bojan. Collected
pass from Messi and swept low shot past keeper.
Yellow cards: Vargas 30', Thiago 54', Bernadello 60'.
Just a week before the big derby game with Real Madrid, Barcelona beat Almería by a historic 0-8, a result which left the statisticians checking the record books for a similar scoreline.
By half time they were already five up, Messi picking up Villa's return pass to open the scoring with a quarter of an hour on the clock, and Iniesta getting the second three minutes later after a defender played the ball in to his path. Acasiete turned Maxwell's cross in to his own net and Pedro made it four following a long pass from debutant Fontás, who was standing in for Piqué in defence. And two minutes later Messi scored his 100th league goal after a quick passing move with Pedro.
Guardiola rested Xavi, Iniesta and Pedro after that, and Bojan came on to score twice, helping Maxwell to set up Messi for his hat-trick in between. The result signalled the end for local coach Juanma Lillo, who was fired immediately after the match ended.