Much magic as Malaga ship six to brilliant Barcelona

New Delhi: Lionel Messi and Xavi were among the stars as Barcelona fired no fewer than six goals past helpless Malaga.

Another fantastic display from Barcelona put all talk of a crisis in Catalonia well and truly in the past as high-flying Malaga were sent home with the sound of six sets of cheers ringing in the ears.

From the outset the Boquerones were on the back foot, attempting deep defending and counter play against Barcelona, but such spells of possession for the hosts merely served to provide goals.

The first came as early as the The first fifteen minutes brought no fewer than four gilt-edged chances, but in fact the initial strike arrived in the 18th.

In an interesting piece of role-reversal, Samuel Eto'o turned provider as he slotted a through ball to Xavi, who muscled off Rosario and netted.

Lionel Messi was next in line with a typical piece of magic. The diminutive Argentine pulled off a wonderful solo run through the box before firing into the roof of the net with his right foot, as opposed to his regular left.

A source of concern for the home support followed as Yaya Toure left the pitch with injury to be replaced by Seydou Keita, but things did not slow down on the goal front: Xavi set up Thierry Henry with a defence-splitting through pass, the Frenchman rounding the 'keeper and rolling the ball home on the half hour mark for a third.

Malaga were having trouble keeping it respectable in the 43rd minute as Samuel Eto'o ended his recent goal drought, Xavi once again serving as playmaker for the Cameroonian to finish with accurate aplomb.

Home coach Pep Guardiola would have been encouraged with the attacking play on show - even Sylvinho was getting in on the act with surging runs and the odd nutmeg - and Dani Alves was next to impress in the 50th minute with an absolutely lovely chip following a pass of tremendous vision from Andres Iniesta 40 yards from goal.

The audacity of both the through ball and the finish will linger long in the memory: the airborne trajectory of both could not have been planned better by a NASA computer.

Barcelona were averaging over a goal every ten minutes by the time Samuel Eto'o added a sixth, an open-goal finish after Thierry Henry unselfishly squared the ball his way as Goitia palmed Sylvinho's drive in his direction.

Malaga, perversely, were more adventurous by this time, and to their credit they had realised that their earlier gameplan was all wrong, resulting in a bit more possession play and slightly less deer-in-headlights action.

But the Blaugrana still had the best of the chances in the closing stages, substitute Bojan - on for Xavi in the 66th minute - bringing out a great save in Goitia right at the end.

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