FCBARCELONA.CAT

16.01.2009 22:37

Solid defending pays off (1-3)

Sònia de Alba

Barça Mobicat collected three points away to Caja Segòvia. Excellent defending from the side coached by Marc Carmona, led by a superb Paco Sedano, and some quality goals from Saad, PC and Fernandao brought the win.

The Barça futsal side are momentarily top of the league, sharing the lead with Inter Movistar, who play tomorrow. Batrça were outstanding in defence away to Caja Segòvia, and made their own goalscoring chances count.

Saad opens the scoring

Saad Assís opened the scoring when the fans had barely had time to settle in their seats. Just 21 seconds had gone by and Caja Segòvia were already playing catch up.

The Castilians started producing danger, but Paco Sedano dealt with everything that came his way.

Meanwhile, Barça Mobicat were looking strong in all departments. Solid at the back they felt confident going forward. Fernandao was looking especially dangerous, but the man to score the second was PC. In a counter attack combination with Jordi Sánchez, the Catalan picked out the Brazilian running through, and PC slipped home past Cidao.

Barça’s superiority was particularly evident in the plays between Fernando and David. The Hispano-Brazilian stopped a ball that was being controlled by the Caja Segòvia player, treading on his toe. The corpulence of Fernandao, who never touched his opponent, caused David to take a tumble.

The biggest thrill of the game came from Carlos Muñoz, on his return to Segòvia. Marc Carmona gave him a run-out during the first half.

Sedano controls, Fernandao finishes off

The second half started with Caja Segòvia seeking to narrow the gap, but following an exchange of cards, Fernandao made it three for the Blaugrana. It had looked like there was no hope of getting the ball through to the pivot, but Saad rounded Tobe brilliantly, and Fernandoa eventually striking home.

The game looked lost, but Miguel Rodrigo’s side weren’t throwing in the towel. But getting past the outfield players was one thing, another was beating goalkeeper Paco Sedano. Barça Mobicat broke down the Segovian morale, one fine example being a double penalty that Andreu Linares struck onto the post, wasting an ideal opportunity to get one back for the home side.

Caja Segòvia suffered more misfortune with the posts six minutes from the end. A quick move seeking to catch Barça unawares rebounded back off the woodwork.

Segovia finally got one consolation goal in an unfortunate play involving Paco Sedano, Chico and Lin who latched onto a ball that had come to lie dead in front of goal. Chico was coming in from behind, and knocked Lin onto the ball who scored almost without trying thanks to the Barça defender’s misfortune.

The pluck of the home side gave them hope of a shock comeback, despite the wall of defence being put up by Barça. But Barça remained solid, there was no further scoring, and they were able to celebrate an important win.