Barca's Thrashing Victory over Real Vallaloid

Samuel Eto’o scored four goals before Eidur Gudjohnsen and Thierry Henry added one each to give Barça a convincing victory against Real Valladolid and return to playing at their best in front of an adoring Camp Nou crowd.

Eto'o opened the scoring after 12 minutes, adding a second on the half-hour mark and completing his hat-trick in the lead-up to half-time.

The African striker then added a fourth goal a minute before the interval to round off a superb first half for the Catalan side.

With the first goal scored Barça were able to enjoy themselves more and Valladolid chose not to change to a very defensive formation and continued to try and find a way past Gerard Piqué and Rafa Márquez. But by doing that they allowed the Blaugrana more time and space to play their own game and Eto’o took advantage.

Eto’o was given the honour of a standing ovation after being taken off before the end shortly before Messi thought that he had scored in the week when he was visited by Diego Maradona, but his effort was ruled out for offside. A sixth was not long in coming though as Aliaksandr Hleb edged into the box behind the Valladolid defence and he clipped a pass across the face of goal and Henry was able to take a touch before hitting the ball into the net.

Barca's win keeps them two points clear of bitter rivals Real Madrid, but Villarreal can draw to within a point of the Catalans if they beat Almeria on Sunday.