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If somebody told you that Barcelona would score a team goal involving 16 passes, 44 touches, across 45 seconds, and that it would involve all but one outfield player, who would your money be on? Hands up if you had Lionel Messi.
Well, that’s exactly what happened at the Nou Camp yesterday morning (AEDT), 67 minutes and 20 seconds into the second leg UEFA Champions League 3-1 win over Arsenal.
It was Barca’s second on the night, a wonderfully constructed goal involving rapid movement of the ball from left to right and back through the middle, patience, a penetrating and decisive run on the ball, cunning movement off it and a subtle one-touch final ball.
Yet it didn’t involve one solitary touch from the world’s best player, Messi, who watched it all unfold from his spot on the left side of Barca’s attack.
Instead, it was a move orchestrated and finished by their midfield maestro, Xavi, who was on the ball four times during the sequence, and had 15 of the team’s 44 touches (more than a third).
While it was Iniesta who burst forward with a seven-touch dribble that drew the Arsenal defenders and created the space for Xavi to ghost into the box unmarked, it was the skipper who spent the most time on the ball, head up, looking for an opening, conducting the flow of the traffic.
Apart from Iniesta’s dribble, there were no more than five touches at any one point, everything short and sharp.
With nothing on down one side, Barca switched it over to the right, the ball always on the ground. When they hit a cul-de-sac down the right, the ball came back, through the middle, for Iniesta, Villa and Xavi to impart their magic.
For those who love the finer technical detail in football, here’s a breakdown of the passing sequence, including the number of touches taken.
1. Abidal header down to Iniesta from an Alumina free-kick (1 touch)
2. Iniesta pass back to Adriano at left back (1)
3. Adriano square ball to Xavi (5)
4. Xavi square ball out to the right to Busquets (5)
5. Busquets forward ball to Pedro (2)
6. Pedro back to Mascherano (2)
7. Mascherano short pass to Xavi (2)
8. Xavi back out to Busquets on the right (4)
9. Busquets down the line to Alves (2)
10. Blocked from getting forward down the line, Alves square ball to Pedro (2)
11. Pedro, with pressure at his back, return pass to Alves (1)
12. Alves back to Busquets (1)
13. Busquets square to Xavi (2)
14. Xavi square to his left to Iniesta, before running around him (4)
15. Iniesta dribbles straight through the middle, using left and right foot, before feeding Villa (7)
16. Villa caresses the ball into the path of Xavi with in-step (1)
17. Xavi takes a touch, settles and slides it under Sagna (with a deflection) and past Alumina (2)
Follow Tony on Twitter @TonyTannousTRBA
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