Like a sleek majestic Rolls Royce, compared to CD Tenerifes snow plough with no grit, Barcelona cruised to a 5-0 win in Santa Cruz. Early promise for Tenerife faded as their old finishing problems saw them squander 3 good chances, you just can’t do that against the best team in the world.
Even before the game, Barcelona were dictating events, our 2 coach loads of Armada Sur fans drove into Santa Cruz only to hit a road block as media and fans mobbed the city centre Atlantida Hotel, waiting to see the Barcelona players head to the ground by coach. We all piled off and made our way around the back streets to the ground, police were everywhere, there were more than we normally get for the Las Palmas derby.
The night before, 600 Barca fans converged on Tegueste, home to one of the 25 peñas (fan clubs) that the Catalan team has across the Canary Islands. Around the Heliodoro fans queued, a few wore Barcelona shirts and Tenerife scarves, how patronising is that? so kind of them to have us as their little second team. The pre match tifo (banners and tick a tape) was stunning, turning the whole ground into a cascade of blue and white.
For the first 30 minutes Tenerife took the game to their visitors, Alfaro had 2 clear chances but couldn’t beat keeper Valdes, and Nino saw his shot hit the bar. Bojan produced the only real chance for Barcelona after 9 minutes and for a while the illusion of parity continued. Barcelona stepped up the pace after 36 minutes, Bojan dashed down the left wing and crossed the ball for Messi, who finished with ease to take the lead. Thiery Henry could have quickly doubled the score, his shot trickled wide of the Tenerife goal with Sergio well beaten. Messi played his part in making it 2-0, his free kick finding Puyol just before half time, and Barcelona rammed home their advantage, Messi tapping in a third from a break by Iniesta, 3-0 game over just as the half time whistle blew.
The second half saw Tenerife chasing shadows, Dinei came on for Ayoze but couldn’t add a spark to the attack as Nino struggles alone again, Alfaro having another poor game. Messi completed his hat trick with a classy little chip into the top corner of the Tenerife net, and Pedro, their Abades born youngster that slipped through the Tenerife scouting system, took to the field.
Kome put a shot well over the visitors bar, a rare chance for Tenerife, before Pedro made it 5-0 with a hint of own goal from Luna, a former college friend of Messi back in Argentina. It was a sad sight to see many part time Tenerife fans streaming towards the exits long before the end, the referee showed a sense of compassion and called time spot on 90 minutes. In the end an easy win for Barcelona, good job their top scorer Ibrahimovic was suspended.
Thankfully the other results down the bottom of the table went Tenerife’s way, but next Sunday is a mammoth game at Almeria, but it is difficult to see where the goals will come from without some new blood before the transfer window closes.