A CRACK’S HAND

Bojan breaks Tenerife with three assists that were finished by Messi, who scored a hat-trick

The team found itself in a thrashing which clears all the doubts about this team.

Leo is pichichi: he has scored 12 goals, like Villa, and 99 in Barça

[Non Barça Related]

Higuaín shines for the galacticos against a frozen Mallorca.

Togo, forced to quit the African Nations Cup and Keita scored twice.

SUPER-HAPPY, SUPER-CALM

Tenerife 0 – 5 Barça

Barça thrashes Tenerife and proves who is the true La Liga leader.

Great Messi-Bojan tandem. Leo scored three goals assisted by Krkic and he is now pichichi.

Those who spoke about “crisis” in Barça made a fool of themselves.

[Non Barça Related]

Madrid didn’t fail under the snow.

Keita scored two goals in an epic comeback.

Coming off the bench in the 34th minute to replace the injured Real Madrid’s Mahamadou Diarra, Seydou Keita was the catalyst in Mali’s 2010 African Nations Cup tournament’s opening match epic comeback fight last night.

Due to a two centimetres tear in his right thigh’s hamstring muscle he picked up during the Club World Cup Final last month, the FC Barcelona midfielder was not even expected to be able to participate in the early stages of the competition. However, with the help of the recovery program set up by the club’s medical services, Keita seemed to have recovered earlier than predicted, and crucially, still maintain his playing form.

The player was in the thick of things for Mali, especially in the second half. Before he led the comeback, Keita was guilty of conceding a penalty when he was adjudged to have brought down Angola’s Gilberto – a rather harsh decision by the referee – in the 74th minute. Manucho stepped up to convert (4-0).

Trailing by four goals with eleven minutes left on clock, the FC Barcelona midfielder started his team’s revival when he stabbed Mali’s opener during a goalmouth scramble after Angola’s keeper, Carlos Fernandes failed to gather the ball coming off a corner – a goal that was thought of as a mere consolation considering the scoreline (4-1, min. 79).

In the 88th minute, Sevilla’s Frederic Kanoute headed in a powerful second goal for the ‘Eagles’ off a Tamboura’s half-decent cross (4-2, min. 88).

Ed. This seems confusing, in the video, the cross seems to be made by defender, Adama Tamboura, but several websites including the ‘MTN Football’ attributes it as Keita’s.

A goal, a penalty and a yellow card, would have been an eventful night for any player, but Keita who will be 30-years-old on Saturday, was not content with the result when three minutes into added time he scored his second – and Mali’s third – with a powerful volley, again from close range (4-3, min. 90+3). The match was saved for the Malians at the death by a Mustapha Yatabare tap-in after the Angola’s goalkeeper could only parry a low-shot (4-4, min. 90+4).

After his performance last night, it came as no surprise that Seydou Keita was chosen as the opening day’s ‘Man of the Match’ by several independent (non-official) websites such as ‘MTN Football’.

“Aside from scoring two goals himself, the second a brilliant volley, he also laid on one for striker Fredi Kanoute, and was the driving force behind Mali’s resurgence in the game,” was the website’s description of his performance.

Not a bad return for a player who Pep Guardiola trusted a lot in the weeks leading up to the tournament.