Barcelona climbed to the top of the Primera Division
standings after scraping past bottom club Sporting Gijon
1-0 to pick up their first away league win of the season.
Pep Guardiola's side had drawn 2-2 at both Real Sociedad
and Valencia in their previous two away matches in La
Liga but they returned from Asturias with all three
points thanks to Adriano's solitary early strike.
Barca are now level on 14 points with surprise package
Levante at the summit, while Sporting continue to struggle
at the foot of the standings after suffering their fifth
defeat in six games.
Barca had netted 22 times in their opening five league
games and also thrashed BATE Borisov 5-0 away from home
in the Champions League in midweek, but the European
and Spanish champions found it tough to create many
chances against a battling Sporting side.
Another big-scoring night had initially looked on the
cards when Adriano put the visitors ahead after just
12 minutes, the Brazilian slotting in after Xavi's 25-yard
shot had come back off the inside of the post.
However, the expected goal deluge did not arrive as
Sporting made it tough for their illustrious visitors,
who were missing the attacking threats of Andres Iniesta,
Alexis Sanchez, Cesc Fabregas and Ibrahim Afellay because
of injuries.
Soon after Adriano put Barca ahead, the Catalan side
almost doubled their lead when Thiago found David Villa
in the area, but the former Sporting striker saw his
effort parried away by Juan Pablo Colinas.
Barca would not come any closer to increasing their
lead in the remainder of the match, although they had
few concerns at the back either.
Sporting twice threatened before the break but neither
Oscar Trejo or Nacho Cases was able to beat Barca goalkeeper
Victor Valdes.
The second half continued in a similar fashion, with
chances few and far between at either end, although
Colinas was called on to deny Lionel Messi in the 76th
minute as the Argentinian looked for his ninth league
goal of the campaign.
Colinas was also tested 10 minutes later by Messi's
25-yard thunderbolt and it looked as though Barca had
grabbed their second goal when Seydou Keita tapped in
the loose ball after Colinas had spilled the shot.
However, Dani Alves, who latched onto the rebound and
played it inside for Keita to roll into an empty net,
was just offside when Messi shot so the goal was ruled
out. |
