Spanish La Liga: Deportivo vs Barcelona – Second Half Report (Part 1)
With the second half poised to start in the El Coruna, both the managers decided to stick to the same formations as in the first half. No changes were made by any side to their respective game plans.
Ruben Perez got a yellow card after two minutes into the second half as he pulled back Lionel Messi who was clear on goal. Even though many criticized the referee's decision and instead demanded a red, it was still not given and the yellow card was retained
for the Deportivo centre back.
The Spanish champions won the free kick 22 yards out and it looked as if David Villa was going to take it. However, Messi stepped over it and even though he looked to be driving it towards his teammates in the box, he curled it inside the goal and thus found
the back of the net.
With Barcelona's second goal coming from Messi, Deportivo decided to make their first change of the game. Valeron came on and replaced the attacking midfielder Saul who looked totally out of sorts throughout the game. With Valeron coming on, Deportivo added
experience to the pitch.
David Villa went down during the hour mark and remained on the ground for quite some time until the medics came and attended to him. The Spanish striker got a late challenge from Antonio Tomas while making a run forward. However, he did get up and looked
to be just fine. Josep Guardiola wanted to play safe in David Villa’s case and so Bojan Krkic was seen warming up on the side lines.
The Spanish goal scoring machine and the scorer of the first goal of the game, David Villa was taken off during the 70th minute for Bojan Krkic. Josep Guardiola definitely did not want to lose his favourite striker and did not risk him on the
pitch for a longer time. On the other hand, Deportivo also decided to make another change. It was Dominguez who went off and Paulo Alvares came on.
Barcelona, at this point, were totally dominating the game in terms of goals, possession and shots on target. The home team barely got the ball at their feet. Till the 70th minute, Barcelona had almost 80% possession which looked to be quite extraordinary.
The Catalans have managed to keep an average possession of 72% throughout this Spanish La Liga season which takes them 14% above the second-highest possession holding team.
Continued in Part 2...